So the man she was with...was he Saudi? Was he also punished? The thing I wonder was whether he encouraged her to grab a coffee with him.....

I almost wonder if the punishment was greater given that she was American. We Americans aren;t universally loved - I've experienced "special" treatment by police forces while traveling.

Being beaten, put in jail for one day, strip searched, and forced to sign confessions sound like scare tactics to me...the tactics of someone who wants to make a point to Americans that they aren't welcome.

My best guess....if she has lived in Saudi Arabia for long enough, she understands the rules. If there was consistent prohibition for getting a coffee with a man, she would not have gone. I bet the rules are enforced only sometimes, and then to varying degrees. There's more to this story than we know, of that I am certain.

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Life is too short not to love and be loved....preferably multiple times in one night.

I think men talk to women so they can sleep with them and women sleep with men so they can talk to them. ~ Jay McInerney