RIYADH, Saudi Arabia — A Saudi woman who appeared in a video driving a car in the capital, Riyadh, has been detained for violating the country’s ban on women driving, which is set to be lifted in June.
In recaptured areas of Mosul, the extreme interpretation of Islam that jihadists forced on the local population for more than two years has sparked a backlash against religious observance.
Pro-Islamic State media outlets have published an infographic picture explaining in 10 bullet points how democracy and Sharia law contravene each other.
Saudi Arabia’s government should end the kingdom’s ban on women driving and reform the male guardianship system, a United Nations independent expert said on Thursday.
A senior Saudi cleric and a health ministry official said women should be allowed to work as paramedics and opticians, Saudi newspapers reported on Monday, part of a push to relax strict labor codes in the ultra-conservative kingdom.
The only shop to open so far after the army fought its way into the Intisar district of eastern Mosul is Ali Bashar’s barbershop. Inside, men were lining up to shave off the long beards they had been forced to wear under Islamic State.
After Islamic State conquered villages in northern Iraq, it spelled out in minute detail the rules of its self-proclaimed caliphate, from beard length to alms to guidelines for taking women as sex slaves.
Saudi Arabia’s parliament on Monday struck down a bill to allow women to drive. The Shura Council, the kingdom’s legislative body voted against a proposal to instruct the Labor and Interior Ministries to look into the matter, 65 to 62. In order to gain approval, the bill had to secure 76 votes.
The mufti of Saudi Arabia has recently warned against calls in news outlets and social media from women who want the kingdom to cancel the institution that recognizes men as guardians over them.
Iranian police said they had closed more than 800 clothes shops to stop them selling “unconventional” women’s coats, state media reported on Monday.
Iran destroyed 100,000 satellite dishes and receivers on Sunday as part of a widespread crackdown against the illegal devices that authorities say are morally damaging, a news website reported.
