Jul 31, 2008 17:23
Riyadh, July 31: The police in Saudi Arabia have arrested a man working for the countryâs vice squad who is accused of having six wives, two more than allowed under Islamic law, a newspaper reported on Thursday.The 56-year-old Saudi, detained in the southwestern province of Jazan near the border with Yemen, is being questioned over charges that he is married to three Saudi and three Yemeni women, Al-Watan said.The man is an employee with the Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice, or religious police commonly known as the Muttawa, which is in charge of enforcing a strict Islamic moral code in ultra-conservative Saudi ArabiaHe has denied the charge, claiming he has divorced two of his spouses, the newspaper said.The provinceâs governor has ordered the formation of a committee to look into the case, Al-Watan said.Muslim men can keep up to four wives at a time under sharia, or Islamic law. âAFP***Bin Ladenâs driver denies loyalty oathBy MIKE MELIAGuantanamo Bay Naval BaseJuly 31: A former driver for Osama bin Laden denied on Wednesday that he had sworn a loyalty oath to the Al-Qaeda leader, contradicting potentially damaging testimony from a defence department interrogator.Salim Hamdan, a Yemeni, testified at his war crimes trial that a nine-hour interrogation in May 2003 focused almost entirely on whether he swore an Islamic oath, or "bayat," to his boss, but he refused to discuss the topic."I never talked to them about this issue," Hamdan told the judge through an Arabic interpreter. "I never pledged allegiance." Judge Keith Allred, a Navy captain, is evaluating whether the interrogation is tainted by coercion and therefore inadmissible as evidence at the first American war crimes trial since World War II.âAP