A young Saudi woman was murdered by her father last August after he discovered she had been engaging in online chats on Facebook. There are thought to be as many as 30,000 Facebook users in Saudi Arabia, and the site offers several popular dating and singles forums. This is rare in a society where contact outside of strict family and class structures largely remains taboo.

Clerics in Saudi Arabia have criticised the popularity of social networking sites, claiming it has become a cause of social strife in the kingdom. Ali al-Maliki, a prominent preacher, described online communication sites like Facebook as corrupting of the nation’s youth and a ‘door to lust’, citing the example of young woman who was murdered by her father.

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