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13 December 2007 ~ View Comments

My Friend Got KIDNAPPED

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I never thought I would be writing such a title.

A friend of mine from college recently got a job in my company, and he was sent last week on a one-month mission to Saudi Arabia. I heard today that two days ago he went through this terrible ordeal.

He went out of a cab in an area close to the site where he was going to work, when a man approached him in a typical Saudi manner to ask him to go pray (as you should know, you HAVE to pray whether you like it or not – if you were caught on the street during prayer time and you are not in the mosque.. well there are special police for that). So my friend goes to pray with that guy in the mosque.

The guy tried to befriend my friend after the prayer – a normal form of socialization. He saw that my friend doesn’t have a car and told him that someone is coming (a friend of the guy) and he will be more than glad to drop him off wherever my friend wants. My friend agreed.

So the car arrives and my friend gets in. He got kidnapped.

They took him into the desert and beat him up, stole his mobile (and SIM card) as well as his wallet and anything else valuable on him. Thank God they didn’t rape him. They left him there and drove off.

My friend then got to his feet and walked a ways till he got onto some road where he got rescued by passers-by.

This is all the info we have for the moment – he is fine and actually had the courage to go back to work. We can’t call him now or contact him but our office there is assuring us he is OK. We don’t know whether or not they reported the incident to the police.

What the hell is the world coming to. And I was just reading this morning about the now-notorious case of the 15 year old being raped here in the UAE (it is now over and the two rapers got a 15 year sentence).

Moral of the story:
A – Never ride with strangers
B – Never go to Saudi




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  • KJ
    N. - Allah eysalmak.. yeah we should give courses LoL


    Sam - Thank you.. yes it is horrible, I can't believe people do this
  • Sam
    wow ! how horrible for your friend...poor guy...
  • N.
    7emdellah 3ala samatah. Really man I don't know what to say. People should be given a survival course before heading out to the Gulf.
  • KJ
    moryarti - Inshalla kheir man, you have the advantage of the Big Karsh ;) When will you be back?


    RB - OMG that is terrible! Sick people.
  • RB
    "My friend got KIDNAPPED" this sentence applies to me also, a friend of mine got kidnapped back in 2005, they dropped him off at the door of the police station after beating him up. (not in KSA though)
  • moryarti
    oh shit. I am flying to Saudi tomorrow morning!
  • a-mok
    this is sad.. thanks god the guy still safe..as i join my words to dubai jazz, hoping that it won't go with any long term emotional effect. i remember that i got many offers to ksa, but i never accepted it.. and i will never do.
  • Hamza
    man.I feel sorry for the guy. but seriously, I gotta agree with what "soriya" said.


    This guy by nature transmits the message "come and rape me". So he should be thankful that they it didn't end up worse than that.



    And so what if you ride with strangers? a year ago I was working in the industrial area and had no car. That area was deserted and cabs dont' go there. I rode with all kinds of people. The Khodarji guy (guy who sells vegtebles), the gas guy (who delivers gas tanks), the furniture driver and many more.



    And you know what? I still maintained my anal virginity.



    Anyway, I feel sorry for him as such incidents are very rare to happen. :(
  • KJ
    سوريّة - Thank you for your comment and welcome to my blog.


    First off, I too live in the gulf area and have lived in Saudi for 18 years. Second, yes, my friend is to blame of course. In his defense though, even though he is Syrian he has lived all his life in Japan and has only recently moved in to the Arab world. He thinks people are inherently good and thus he naively thought it would be ok to have them drop him off. But with what you're suggesting about the other kidnappings in other countries, it means that all the victims are the ones to blame. It is partially true as negligence on their part but that does not mean we should not sympathize with them and their ordeal and it does not mean that the people who took advantage of the naivety are not monsters.



    Second you are right about our government, it is the one that is supposed to keep us in and not look for better life outside. I didn't move out of Syria, I was born outside to begin with. I have been an expat all my life and have seen Syria a total of two years during my 23 years of living.



    As for the "do not go to Saudi" comment, it was aimed at my readers as a reference to a previous post I published about a work issue I had where they had to dispatch me to Saudi for a couple of years or get fired. It wasn't intentioned as something else.



    Again, thank you for your comment and I am sorry if I caused any confusion from my side.
  • سوريّة
    ok, as i live in the gulf area, i know that it is full of paradoix , racism, social deseases...etc
    but i think the only one to be blamed here is ur friend.



    since when does a person with a brain in his head get in the car with a stranger in a country on his first day in it?



    second, i don't agree with the way forigners crisize their way of living. if u don't like it just leave it. i think we should mock our governement which pushed us to go and look for a better life in another country.

    يعني فوق ما عم ناكل من خيرون بدنا نئعد نتمسخر عليهون؟



    finally, "do not go to saudi?"

    a canadian lady disapeared last year in syria, a little girl was raped and killed in Aleppo, every time i go to damascus, i get stupid following me everywhere ,should i say the same, do not go to syria?



    with all my respect.
  • KJ
    7aki - I second that


    Sous - It is sick. My friend is ok according to our resources.



    Isam - LooooooL. Well man you and I lived in KSA long enough to know better... this is my friend's first visit



    DJ - Allah eysalmak man.. I dunno if he got emotionally scarred. He's quite an odd guy in that he detaches himself from lots of things. I hope he gets over it.



    Crystal - I am glad he survived too. Thank you for your support.



    Omar - thanks mayte and welcome to my blog. Yes, prayer police. I got caught twice when I used to live there lol.



    Asoom - ah you missed it! It rocked the nation terribly
  • asoom
    alhmdullah 3ala salamtu, yea the rape case was on 20/20 on abcnews but I totally missed it
  • Omar
    wow.. what a story
    well glad he's alright, the this is the best outcome of such a situation.



    Saudi is a strange place.. prayer police!!
  • crystal
    I'm glad to see your friend survived.He probably would appreciate a kind word from you,right now,to let him know there are people in this world that have deep affection for him.


    And it certainly makes me feel good,to see,that we can rest assure other 15-year-olds are safe from this one sexual offender.
  • DUBAI JAZZ
    al 7amdellah 3la salamit your friend...


    Terrible incident, I hope it won't with any long-term emtional effect...
  • Isam
    how nice of them ...


    :walking home:
  • Sous
    Uh that was a really sick story. I hope your friend is fine. How sick are people?
  • 7aki Fadi
    (O_O) I hate Saudia Arabia.
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