RIYADH, 19 September 2007 — Taraweeh prayers, performed in mosques all across the Kingdom after Isha (evening) prayers, turned out to be a frightening and disgusting experience for women worshippers attending prayers in one of the capital’s mosques in Al-Manfooha district Monday night.

A foreigner in his mid 30s not only barged into the women’s section of the mosque and flashed his “private parts” at the female congregants, but he did it during the holy month of Ramadan when a very modest society kicks up the modesty a considerable notch out of respect for the fourth pillar of Islam. The police were, of course, called immediately. According to the police report, the suspect was seen “doing immoral acts which defy public decency.”

In fact, the suspect had managed to escape the mosque. Police at a checkpoint that had been quickly set up in the neighborhood caught the suspect later.

Several of the women in the mosque were able to identify the man at the police station. This time, the women only had to identify the man by looking at his face.

The man should consider himself lucky, actually. Flashing women in a mosque in Riyadh is probably a really good way to invite a public beating.