Saudi police arrest miniskirt-wearing model
SAUDI ARABIA’S vice and virtue police have arrested a young woman who was filmed in an archaeological site wearing a miniskirt and crop top, sparking a furious debate about the rights of women in the ultra-conservative kingdom.
In a series of short videos posted online, the woman identified only as “model Khulood” is seen walking through an ancient fort with her long hair uncovered and her midriff exposed. She is seen mostly from behind but in one clip she faces the camera and runs a hand through her hair.
The videos led to a social media firestorm in Saudi Arabia, where most women are forbidden by law from appearing in public without a long abaya (robe-like dress) and their hair covered by a headscarf.
Police in Riyadh yesterday announced that they had arrested the young woman on charges of wearing “indecent clothing” and were questioning her. A police spokesman said the woman admitted it was her in the video clips but said that someone else posted them online.
She said that she had been accompanied by a male guardian on the trip and had not broken strict Saudi laws that forbid women from travelling alone.
The case is now in the hands of the public prosecutor who will decide whether to charge her with a crime. She faces fines and potential prison time if convicted of flouting the kingdom’s morality laws.
The footage was taken in the province of Najd, one of the most conservative areas in Saudi Arabia, at an empty village around 100 miles north of Riyadh. The videos did not appear to be intended as a protest against Saudi Arabia’s restrictions and looked more likely to be the work of young people in a country that is deeply conservative but also has high rates of social media use.
Both supporters and detractors took to Twitter to debate the video. One female wrote in Arabic: “You violated the tradition and the basic law. You are shameless. Respect your homeland. Your parents did not educate you.”
The Saudi writer Ibrahim al-munayif posted a picture of a warrant for her arrest and added: “She should respect the law whether you like it or not. Anybody who rebels against the law because they don’t like it is calling for chaos.”
Another woman countered: “If she was a foreigner they would flirt with her, talk about her nice body and her beautiful eyes. But because she is Saudi they want to try her.”
The controversy is unwelcome at a time when Mohammed bin Salman, Saudi Arabia’s ambitious young crown prince, is trying to present his country as in the process of modernisation.