While in Rome, do as the Romans do

By Hasan Suroor

LONDON, FEB. 10. The law-abiding Her Majesty's citizens who swear they don't drive after drinking or drink before driving; would dutifully pay £ for parking on the yellow line; and would rather jump into the Thames than jump a queue seem to drop the mask when they land in regions which were once regarded as the ``white man's burden''.

Or at least some do judging from media reports from Saudi Arabia in the wake of the arrest and T.V. ``confession'' of Alexander ``Sandy'' Mitchell, a British hospital worker in Riyadh accused of planting a car bomb which killed a fellow Briton Christopher Rodway last November. The Saudi laws against drinking, let alone brewing alcohol and distributing it, are so strict that even the brave spirits from the subcontinent with their contempt for rules are known to keep a low profile, but blame it on the heat of the desert or sheer temptation to make quick money, the two young Britons - it appears - simply let themselves go and have a crack at the law.

In a country where alcohol related offences can invite a death sentence they were running drinking dens with other expatriates, mostly white, and according to a report in The Guardian, ``Mr Mitchell appears to have dived into the world of drink more deeply than most.'' It said he had a ``stake in three drinking dens for expatriates and supplied satellite dishes - officially banned in the kingdom - and later sold his stake in one of the dens to Rodway. Rodway's murder is alleged to be a fallout of his bootlegging business relationship with Mitchell. He is believed to have been a victim of a ``turf war'' related to bootlegging.

Alcohol-running by Britons in Riyadh seems to be big business, judging from The Guardian report which said: ``Like many other Britons in the kingdom Mr. Mitchell became caught up in the illicit drinking activities that keep foreigners entertained, usually with the connivance of the Saudi authorities.'' It quoted a friend of Mitchell as saying that ``he rented a complete compound of six villas...sublet five of them to expats and ran one villa as a pub...as busy as any pub in London.'' And, to think, that back here at home he may have been the sort who would think twice before crossing a red light.

There has been widespread condemnation of what is being described as ``stage managed'' confession extracted from Mitchell and two others, and the British Government is under pressure to insist on a fair trial and not let Riyadh ``get away with it''. Similarly there is concern over the manner in which two British journalists in Iran were treated for interviewing the dissident jailed Iranian journalist Akbar Ganji. They fled Teheran after being threatened with prosecution on the plea that they had broken the law against interviewing political prisoners. Few would quarrel either with the strong reaction to the T.V. ``trial'' in Riyadh or the intolerance of Iranian authorities but a little respect for other countries' laws, however arbitrary, can do nobody any harm. Keep off the yellow line, as you would do at home.

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Section  : International
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