Egyptian feminists against model’s arrest in Saudi Arabia

CAIRO – 1 August 2017: An Egyptian feminist group stood outside Saudi Arabia’s embassy wearing miniskirts to challenge Saudi Arabia’s “patriarchal” authorities in Cairo on Sunday after Saudi authorities arrested a woman for wearing miniskirts.

The move was part of a campaign launched by young women in Saudi Arabia.

This move aims to confront the “patriarchal attempts to dominate women’s bodies” and to respond to the arrest of a Saudi woman known as “model Khulood” for posting a video while walking around an ancient place in Ushaiager, a town in the Najd province wearing a short skirt and crop top.

The Najd is the birthplace of the country’s ultraconservative Wahhabi religious movement.

The police in Riyadh have arrested her for violating the country’s strict dress code for women which is a black garment called the abaya covering the whole body except the face, hands and feet.

Khulood’s arrest has unleashed a storm in social media with many Saudis supporting the model, and outrage at breaking the well- known rules. They referred to Donald Trump’s visit as his wife Melania, and daughter Ivanka were not wearing the garment during the visit.

But, she was released later without any charge.