Saudi Arabia: Women in Saudi media under fire

By Abdul Rahman Shaheen, Correspondent
Published: March 30, 2009, 23:52


Riyadh: Thirty-five prominent Saudi figures including scholars, university professors, judges, imams, researchers and government officials have warned the minister of culture and information against the prominence being given to women in the media. They described the projection of women in the media as a "phenomenon exceeding proper bounds of Sharia".

In a letter addressed to Dr Abdul Aziz Khoja, a copy of which was placed on the website Nurul Islam, the hardliners underlined the need for strictly adhering into the Kingdom's media policy, which prohibits women, including singers and artists, from appearing in the media. The statement, which was also carried by Al Madinah Arabic daily, urged scholars and reformers to examine the matter and come out with their proposals.

The 35 signatories of the statement included Shaikh Abdul Rahman Al Barak, Shaikh Abdul Rahman Al Mahmoud, member of the faculty of Usooluddin at Imam Mohammad Bin Saud University of Riyadh, and Shaikh Abdullah Al Sulaiman, judicial supervisor at the Ministry of Justice. They urged the minister to establish a supervisory Sharia committee at the ministry in cooperation with the Ifta Department, in line with Article 15 of the Media Policy of the Ministry of Culture and Information.

The signatories hoped the minister would undertake media reforms after rooting out "deviation" as far as radio, television, press, literary clubs and book fairs are concerned.

The statement, which was also carried by the Saudi news website Al Masdar, heavily criticised "plans to Westernise Saudi women and deprive them of their legal rights while travelling, as well as gender-mixing, opening doors for clashes with liberal ideologies, giving prominence for staging songs and playing musical instruments by women, publishing women's pictures, allowing women singers and broadcasters to mix with men at the ministry building, allowing entry of obscene newspapers and magazines with sexy pictures of women inside the pages and folders into the Kingdom", and described that all these are "no doubt, prohibited by Sharia".

According to the hardliners, all these phenomena are contrary to the laws of the country, royal decrees and the media policy of the Kingdom.

"This also involves violation of Article 7 in Item 2 of the Basic Governing System, which says that the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia shall be governed by the Book of God and the Tradition of the Prophet (PBUH).

The statement also drew attention to the fact these trends were also in violation of the Royal Decree No 2/4185, which prevents the staging of any dance programme involving women or appearance of female singers or news readers on television.

The decree also prevents the appearance of any types of pictures of women on newspapers or magazines for any reasons. The statement urged the minister to grant permission for a meeting with a delegation of 10 of the signatories to discuss the matter.