The fire started among thrown-away
books and papers. One of the teenagers at Girls'
Intermediate School No. 31 in Mecca, the holiest city
in Islam, was sneaking a cigarette before classes. A
hall monitor spotted her on the trash-strewn landing
at the top of the stairs and she tossed the butt away.
Twenty minutes later, teachers smelled smoke. One
shouted, 'Fire!' Within seconds, panic more intense
than the flames swept through the school.
July 15 Four months ago, 15 girls died in a terrible
fire at a girls school in Saudi Arabia, when ancient
traditions kept male firefighters from entering the
building. Newsweek magazines Christopher Dickey
discusses changes sparked by the case.
ABOUT 750 GIRLS from the ages of 13 to 17 poured into
the single narrow stairwell, but the door at the
bottom the door to the air and light was locked and
chained. The only person with a key was a man, an
illiterate guard who?d left on a menial errand,
closing everyone inside. The electricity went off.
Screaming, suffocating girls began to die in the dark.
It got worse fast. Firefighters and ambulances
arrived in short order, probably before anyone had
died. But according to eyewitness reports, a member of
the muttawa, zealous vigilantes who defend
narrow-minded morality in the name of Islam, fought
with the Civil Defense units that wanted to enter the
building. The muttawa belong to the officially
sanctioned Society for the Promotion of Virtue and the
Prevention of Vice and make it their job to enforce
head coverings for women and strict separation of the
sexes. The fleeing girls had left their scarves
behind, and their would-be rescuers were men. Some of
the girls were actually forced back into the building
to cover up. Finally, regular police subdued the
muttawa leader, confiscated his ID and dragged him
away. The school door was opened, the small fire
extinguished. But by then 15 girls were dead or dying,
and more than 40 were injured.
According to at least two reports, members of the Committee for the Propagation of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice (CPVPV), also known as Mutaween, would not allow the girls to escape or to be saved from the fire because they were "not properly covered", and the mutaween did not want physical contact to take place between the girls and the civil defense forces for fear of sexual enticement, and variously that the girls were locked in by the police, or forced back into the building.
Civil Defense stated that the fire had extinguished itself before they arrived on the scene. CPVPV officers did appear to object to Civil Defense workers going into the building - Human Rights Watch quoted a Civil Defense officer as saying,
"Whenever the girls got out through the main gate, these people forced them to return via another. Instead of extending a helping hand for the rescue work, they were using their hands to beat us."
Executive Director of the Middle East and North Africa division of Human Rights Watch put it, "Women and girls may have died unnecessarily because of extreme interpretations of the Islamic dress code. State authorities with direct and indirect responsibility for this tragedy must be held accountable"
RELIGION OF PEACE!