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THE DAILY ASTORIAN • FRIDAY, OCTOBER 7, 2016
PARTING SHOT FROM DANNY MILLER
A weekly snapshot from The Daily Astorian and Chinook Observer photographers
The Astoria drum line warms up before the start of the first Clatsop Clash football game of the year during the Fishermen’s homecoming in September at CMH Field.
ODDITY
LOST IN TRANSLATION
of Investigation and Public
Prosecution, al-Mayman said.
The Interior Ministry did
not immediately respond to an
Associated Press request for
further details on the case. Abu
Sin’s real name has not been
made public. Al-Mayman said
he is 19 years old.
First fame
then arrest for
Saudi teen
who chatted
up US girl
Deserves trial
By AYA BATRAWY
Associated Press
D
UBAI, United Arab
Emirates — When
a teenager in Saudi
Arabia began chatting up an
American woman online,
he irst found fame and then
notoriety before he was
arrested over concerns that his
clumsy cyber lirtation vio-
lated the kingdom’s conserva-
tive norms.
The teenager, known
only by his online name of
‘Abu Sin,’ a reference to his
crooked teeth, speaks almost
no English. Christina Crock-
ett, a 21-year-old vlogger
from California, speaks no
Arabic.
Even so, they managed to
create goofy, light-hearted vid-
eos in which they appear fas-
cinated by one another. The
spectacle of the two trying to
communicate attracted mil-
lions of viewers both inside
the kingdom and abroad.
As a result, Abu Sin shot to
fame on the livestreaming site
YouNow, receiving nearly 6.5
million views of his videos.
In one of their most-
watched videos from YouNow,
Abu Sin tells Crockett: “I am
Saudi Arabia.” Wearing a low-
cut tank top, she smiles and
responds with a lick of her
blonde hair: “That’s cool, I’m
America.”
AP Photo/Kamran Jebreili
Saudi men talk and browse the internet in 2000 at a hotel in Riyadh, the capital of Saudi Arabia. When a teenager in Sau-
di Arabia began chatting up an American woman online, he first found fame and then notoriety before he was arrested
over concern his clumsy cyber flirtation violated the kingdom’s conservative norms.
Throughout the conver-
sation, he periodically blurts
out in Arabic, “what’s she say-
ing!?” Appearing nervous and
excited, he later offers her
some of the few English words
he knows, proclaiming: “I love
you too. I love you too. I love
you too.”
She tells him: “Aw, I don’t
even know what you’re say-
ing, but I love you so much.”
Extra signiicance
Their exchanges took on
extra signiicance in Saudi
Arabia, where unrelated men
and women seldom see one
another. Almost all public
spaces are gender segregated
and most women cover their
face, hair and bodies in billow-
ing black cloth.
While
the
conversa-
tions appear harmless, Saudi
media outlets say the teen
was detained late last month
for “unethical behavior” due
to the videos. Footage posted
online on Sept. 25 purports to
show his arrest, and Abu Sin’s
YouNow site, on which he
used to post almost daily, had
not been updated for 13 days.
In Saudi Arabia, where the
internet has become the pre-
ferred forum for young Sau-
dis to meet and express them-
selves, his arrest sparked
mixed reactions.
Abu Sin’s videos could con-
stitute a violation of the coun-
try’s cybercrime law, which
prohibits producing material
that harms public order, mor-
als or religious values, accord-
ing to lawyer Abdulrahman
al-Lahem. He may also be
found in contempt of the king-
dom’s sometimes unyielding
interpretation of Islamic law.
Al-Lahem was quoted in the
Saudi newspaper, Okaz, as
saying the teenager could con-
sequently face between one
and three years in prison.
In comments to the Saudi
Gazette daily, Riyadh Police
spokesman
Col.
Fawaz
Al-Mayman said Crockett and
Abu Sin made “enticing vid-
eos” that “became famous and
received negative attention.”
He said police had received
requests from the Saudi public
demanding Abu Sin be pun-
ished. After his arrest, the case
was forwarded to the Bureau
The Saudi daily Arab
News wrote that people in the
kingdom argue the teenager
deserves to be tried because his
videos “made people laugh (at
us).” In an op-ed for the pan-
Arab Asharq al-Awsat news-
paper, prominent Saudi com-
mentator Mishari al-Thaidy
said the incident raised serious
questions about how young
people in the kingdom are
being raised.
Yet in an editorial pub-
lished Sunday, Arab News
wrote that if Abu Sin was
indeed arrested based on the
demands of public opinion,
then “let it be known that this
published opinion believes
Abu Sin should be released …
and given his own television
show!”
“When did being `silly’
ever become a crime?” the edi-
torial continued.
Crockett released a video
saying she doesn’t really
understand the situation in
Saudi Arabia, but that many
people are blaming her as the
reason for his arrest.
“Obviously, I think this
whole situation is totally crazy
and unfair, but I don’t feel I
should be getting any hate for
this because I have no control
over it,” she said. “It’s not my
fault that it went viral. It’s not
my fault that he got this fame
from it or that I got it. Neither
of us asked for it.”
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