Saudi textbooks contain extremist teachings despite country’s reform claims

Riyadh -  School textbooks in Saudi Arabia still include lessons on how to chop off thieves’ hand and feet, though the kingdom has vowed to erase those portions as a part of reforms.

The recent editions obtained by the Institute for Gulf Affairs in Washington, D.C. highlighted that Saudi Arabia has failed to keep that promise.

“This is where terrorism starts, in the education system.” Fox News quoted Institute for Gulf Affairs Director Ali Al-Ahmed, as saying.

He said the Saudi Government had made and paid for these books, which were smuggled out of the country through confidential sources.

He said a Class 10th standard textbook elaborated barbaric practices to target thieves.

He pointed out that the textbook call for the homosexuals to be put to death "because they pose a danger at society.”

Saudi Arabia’s educational teachings had come under the scanner after the 9/11 terror attacks on the United States, because almost all perpetrators hailed from the kingdom.

Former Saudi Ambassador to the U.S. Prince Turki al-Faisal had earlier told the Chicago Council on Foreign Relationships that king had vowed to eradicate this ideology.

But the new textbooks to be used during the 2010-11 academic year shows that hateful speech still form the content of textbooks.

The Saudi Arabian Embassy in Washington refused to comment on the issue.