HUSBANDS in Saudi Arabia are now monitoring their wives' movements out of the
country using electronic tracking.
Women in the ultra conservative country are already denied the right to travel
without consent from their male guardians and banned from driving.
But now women in oil rich kingdom are being spied on by an electronic system
that picks-up any cross-border movements.
Since last week, Saudi women’s male guardians began receiving text messages if
their women left the country - even if they are travelling together.
“The authorities are using technology to monitor women,” said columnist
Badriya al-Bishr, who criticised the “state of slavery under which women are
held” in the kingdom.
Saudi women are not allowed to leave the kingdom without
permission from their
male guardian, usually husband or father, who must give consent by signing
what is known as the “yellow sheet” at the airport or border.
The move by the Saudi authorities was swiftly condemned on social network
Twitter - with many criticising the crackdown.
“If I need an SMS to let me know my wife is leaving Saudi Arabia, then I’m
either married to the wrong woman or need a psychiatrist,” tweeted a user
called Hisham.
Saudi Arabia applies a strict interpretation of sharia, or Islamic law, and is
the only country in the world where women are not allowed to drive.
In June 2011, female activists launched a campaign to defy the ban, with many
arrested for doing so and forced to sign a pledge they will never drive
again.
Saturday, November 24, 2012
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
0 comments