Who Needs Coffee Anyway?

Hey ladies, best not sit with a man in public while in Saudi Arabia.

Saudi Arabia’s religious police are under attack again over what critics consider heavy-handed enforcement of the country’s gender segregation policies and other strict social rules.

This time the case involves an American businesswoman who went with a male colleague to a Starbucks branch in the Saudi capital and ended up in jail for sitting in a coffee shop with a man who is not a close relative.

Under their sharia law, this was a crime punishable with jail.

Responding to the criticism, the religious police issued a statement published Tuesday by Saudi newspapers that said officers were justified in their actions.

Islamic law does not allow police to ignore the prohibition against a woman ‘‘sitting with a man who is not a relative and exchanging words and laughter with him,’’ said the statement by Abdullah al-Shithri of the Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice.

What's more, they also reserve the right to go after the media for reporting this situation.

The commission added that it reserved the right to take legal action against Abdullah al-Alami, a columnist for the newspaper Al-Watan who accused the religious police of abducting Yara.

The religious police are quite active:

The religious police enforce the kingdom’s strict Islamic lifestyle. They patrol public places to ensure women are covered and not wearing makeup, men and women don’t mingle, shops close five times a day for prayers and men go to a mosque to worship.

Just remember, Barack Obama says he wants to meet with representatives of the Islamic community to hear their grievances against the U.S. This could be coming soon to an American city near you. Maybe Michelle Obama will be proud of her country then, eh?