Saudi Police Arrest Woman in Miniskirt Video

She ignited a debate on Twitter after her post
By Newser Editors and Wire Services
Posted Jul 18, 2017 10:40 AM CDT
Updated Jul 18, 2017 11:22 AM CDT
Saudi Woman Wears Miniskirt on Snapchat; Brouhaha Erupts
In this May 11, 2014, file photo, a Saudi woman seen through a heart-shaped statue walks along an inlet of the Red Sea in Jiddah, Saudi Arabia.   (Hasan Jamali)

Police in Saudi Arabia have arrested a young woman who wore a miniskirt in public and who had posted the video online, sparking an outcry from people who say she flagrantly violated the kingdom's conservative Islamic dress code. Saudi Arabia's state-run TV reported Tuesday that police in the capital, Riyadh, arrested the woman for wearing "immodest clothes" and referred her case to the country's public prosecutor, per the AP. The woman drew attention over the weekend when she shared on Snapchat a video of herself walking in a historic village north of the capital wearing a miniskirt and crop top, and showing her hair. Saudi Arabia has strict dress codes for men and women. Women must wear loose, long robes and most also cover their face.

After the video went up, competing Twitter hashtags emerged, with one demanding the woman's arrest and another asserting freedom of dress shouldn't be a crime. Others defended her by posting images from President Trump's visit to Saudi Arabia in May, in which first lady Melania Trump and his daughter Ivanka, though modestly dressed, shunned wearing a head cover or the abaya. With more than half of the population of Saudi Arabia under age 25, the country's 30-year-old heir to the throne, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, has pushed for greater openings for entertainment in part to appease the country's youth, but strict gender segregation rules and other restrictions on women's movement remain in place. (More Saudi Arabia stories.)

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