♊︎

The fire at Girls' Intermediate School No. 31 in Mecca was a blaze that engulfed a girls' school housing 835 students and 55 women on March 11, 2002. While the fire was initially attributed to an electrical short circuit, an investigation by Saudi authorities concluded that a discarded cigarette butt, thrown onto a pile of paper, had ignited the fire. The incident resulted in the deaths of 15 Saudi schoolgirls and injuries to others. The Saudi Committee for the Promotion of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice faced severe criticism and allegations of contributing to the high death toll; members reportedly turned away parents while the school was burning and barred the girls from exiting because they were not wearing the hijab. Committee members were also accused of preventing firefighters and paramedics from entering the premises, arguing that the girls could not be exposed to unrelated men—as the rescuers were not mahrams (male relatives). Ultimately, the girls were carried out as charred corpses, further intensifying the criticism directed at the Committee.[1] The Saudi newspaper Al-Eqtisadiah reported in its issue dated Wednesday, March 13, 2002, that a firefighter stated that members of the Commission "forced the girls to remain inside the school and did not allow them to leave because they were not wearing the hijab or abaya." Others testified that Commission members—along with ambulance and police personnel—were prevented from entering the school; the Commission members shouted at them and "refused to budge from the gate." Mecca Police Chief Colonel Mohammed Al-Harthi told the Associated Press on March 17 that upon arriving at the scene, he found a member of the religious police arguing with a police officer and blocking him from entering the school; however, when the police chief ordered the man to leave, "he did so without argument."[2]

#٢٠٣٠_بلا_نقاب إذا أي وحدة حابة توصل صوتها، أقدر أشغّل رسالتها بكرة في Speakers’ Corner عبر مكبرات الصوت. وأتفهم تمامًا إذا كان هذا الشيء فيه مخاطرة كبيرة عليكم. وأقدر بعد أستخدم تطبيق ترجمة لتحويل الرسائل المكتوبة إلى صوت، وأشغّل أكبر عدد ممكن من رسائلكم. لازم ترسلون رسائلكم قبل الساعة 5 مساءً بتوقيت بريطانيا الصيفي (BST) عشان أقدر أجمعها وأرتبها. ومستحيل أشارك أي معلومات ممكن تكشف هويتكم. Speakers’ Corner مكان في لندن، وهناك قلت لأول مرة: «حرّري وجهك». وهو مكان تاريخي مشهور في لندن، يجتمع فيه الناس من زمان عشان يتكلمون بحرية ويعبّرون عن آرائهم. تقدرين ترسلين لي رسالة صوتية بالخاص (DM)، أو على الإيميل: [email protected] أو تستخدمين نموذج التواصل الموجود في موقعي.