The first liquor store is going to open in Saudi Arabia! Only these people will be able to benefit

Saudi Arabia is planning to allow the sale of liquor in the country for the first time. Liquor will be sold only to non-Muslim diplomats, sources said. Earlier they had to import liquor through diplomatic channels. In 1952, a son of King Abdulaziz shot and killed a British diplomat in a rage after drinking alcohol. Due to this incident, the sale of alcohol is banned in Saudi Arabia. Punishments for selling alcohol in Saudi include fines, jail, and public flogging.

The move marks a milestone in the kingdom’s efforts, led by Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, to open the ultra-conservative Muslim country to tourism and business as drinking alcohol is forbidden in Islam. It is also part of broader plans called Vision 2030 to build a post-oil economy. The document said the new store is located in Riyadh’s Diplomatic Quarter, a neighborhood where embassies and diplomats live and will be strictly restricted to non-Muslims. It was unclear whether other non-Muslim migrants would have access to stores. There are millions of expatriates living in Saudi Arabia but most of them are Muslim workers from Asia and Egypt.

A source familiar with the plans said the store is expected to open in the coming weeks. Saudi Arabia has strict laws against drinking alcohol, punishable by hundreds of lashes, deportation, fines or imprisonment, and expatriates also face deportation. As part of the reforms, the punishment of flogging has been largely replaced by prison terms. Alcohol is available only through diplomatic mail or on the black market. The Saudi government did not respond to a request for comment. State-controlled media reported this week that the government was imposing new restrictions on alcohol imports within diplomatic convoys, which could increase demand for new stores.