RIYADH, 2 May — The Commerce Ministry is cracking down on factories producing versions of abayas (the obligatory all-covering black cloaks for women) that violate religious regulations.

Dr. Abdul Aali ibn Ibrahim Abdul Aali, director of the department for combating trade fraud, said a religious ruling, or fatwa, requires that decent women’s cloaks should be thick and not revealing; loose so they do not show the form of the body; and open from the front only.

The black dress should cover all the body, be devoid of decorations, drawings, writing and other marks that would attract public attention.

The official added that the ministry was coordinating with the Commission for Promoting Virtue and Preventing Vice to crack down on factories which produce non-regulation cloaks, which have increasingly been seen in recent months being worn by women in the Kingdom’s bigger cities.

Cloaks found to be in violation of the rules "will be confiscated and destroyed", while punitive measures will be taken against their owners.

Saudi women are veiled in black in public and are not allowed to travel without the approval of a husband or father.

Recently the authorities of King Faisal University in Ahsa objected to female students attending classes without covering their heads, saying it was against Saudi customs and traditions.

A group of students told the press that the college’s hostel officials forbade them from wearing abayas that did not include a veil to cover their heads.

The girls deplored the action as "arbitrary" and a "direct interference" in their personal freedom.

"They don’t have the right to interfere in such matters," the girls were quoted as saying.

Jowhara bint Ibrahim Boubsheet, undersecretary for academic and administrative affairs, told Arab News that university regulations demand that girl students wear decent dress while moving within the hostel.

"The university doesn’t insist that the students wear a particular type of abaya. The only thing is that it should cover their body properly and in a decent way," she said.

Last October, the Commerce Ministry ordered a similar crackdown on a style of abaya which had the phrase "dare you touch me?" printed on its back in Arabic.

The ministry ordered all its branches in the Kingdom to withdraw the cloak from shopping centers, and inspectors conducted raids on women’s clothes shops.

At the time, the salesmen told Arab News that there was a very high demand for the cloaks, and that the first shipment had sold out immediately.