RIYADH, 11 March 2004 — A private prosecution has been filed in Jubail court against a Saudi journalist who had called for women to work in cosmetic and lingerie shops instead of men, according to Asharq Al-Awsat, a sister publication of Arab News.
The case followed the reporter’s investigation into calls for the protection of women by preventing them from mixing with men, thus effectively allowing them to serve in lingerie and cosmetic shops.
Saeed Al-Shahrani, a reporter at Al-Watan, was summoned after Abdullah Al-Ali, an employee at a fertilizer company, accused him of violating women’s honor and Islamic law by opening doors to impropriety and indecency.
The case has triggered an intense debate, with some saying that in religious court cases there have to be three people, not one individual, filing a suit under the authority of a state official. Others have said that the issue should be handled by the Ministry of Information and Culture while yet others say that the Committee for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice should deal with it.
