Saudi Arabia is trying to crack down on camera phones -- that have been banned in that country -- with everything from expelling students using them to smashing a phone with a large mallet as an example to other these heinous criminals, according to an article in the Arab News.
As I've written previously, Saudi Arabia banned camera phones in September 2002, but the phones continue to be imported illegally.
The Arab News reports, "Legal or not, mobile phones with cameras are alive and well in the Kingdom. They are openly on sale in phone souks and freely available over the counter in branded stores.
"To add to the confusion, the technically illegal Samsung E 700 is even advertised on a main thoroughfare in Jeddah."
Hammering the point home
Students in Saudi Arabia are being expelled for using camera phones and posting photos on the Internet, and students are informing school administrators about camera phone use.
In the Riyadh area, high school students complained to their principal about a fellow student carrying a camera phone.
The head of the Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice for the region took matters into his own hands and smashed the camera phone with a mallet "as a disciplinary act and a lesson for others to learn from," the article reports.
We're not doing it
The Arab News quotes handset vendors Samsung and LG as saying they aren't sanctioning the importation of camera phones. It's all the fault of the "gray market" of smugglers.
Cellphones with Camera in the Kingdom (Saudi Arabia) is still in the market. Any people wish to carry/bring a camera from other country is not prohibited unless you show it into the immigration. The best technic to carry a camera is place it into your body(pocket, waist, etc.) and not into your luggage also if you are working inside the country you cannot bring the camera out of the country if! you still want to came back in that country(saudi Arabia). To be able to carry the cellphone with camera back to your home land, you need to have an exit visa and by this you can carry your cellphone with camera back home.
Posted by: PoisonKiss | Thursday, September 23, 2004 at 12:34 AM
hi! i am travelling to Saudi Arabia tommorow,
i just want to have a confirmed info whether camera phones are illegal in Saudi Arabia.
Will my phone be confiscated in the airport? if i bring my Nokia 6230 (with camera)?
thanks
Posted by: sara ismail | Tuesday, August 03, 2004 at 04:30 PM
hi! i am travelling to Saudi Arabia tommorow,
i just want to have a confirmed info whether camera phones are illegal in Saudi Arabia.
Will my phone be confiscated in the airport? if i bring my Nokia 3650?
ur info is quite valuable. thnks.
Posted by: Jude Melendrez | Tuesday, June 22, 2004 at 12:18 AM