SUNDAY, OCTOBER 21, 2001
Saudi bans Dare You Touch Me? cloak
RIYADH: The Saudi commerce ministry has ordered a crackdown on a women's abaya, or cloak, which has the phrase "Dare you touch me?" in Arabic printed on its back, a newspaper reported on Saturday.
The ministry ordered all its branches in the vast kingdom to withdraw the cloak from shopping centers and markets for carrying "phrases which contravene traditions and customs," Al-Iqtissadia business daily said.
The head of the ministry branch in the southern province of Assir, Mohammad Abu Kharsha, said inspectors were instructed to conduct search raids on shops selling women's clothes. But the paper quoted salesmen as saying there
had been a very high demand for the cloaks, and that the first shipment had sold out immediately. A second shipment could not arrive because of the ban.
Saudi Arabia applies a strict Sunni interpretation of Sharia, or Islamic law, and the role of women has been largely limited to the home. Saudi women are veiled in black in public and are not allowed to travel without the approval of husband or father or eat alone in a restaurant. It is obligatory for them to wear black cloaks in public. ( AFP )
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