OMFG! Liberals EVERYWHERE!1!!!!!1

[Odoreida]

Saudi Arabia rules in favor of woman living independently without permission
https://english.alarabiya.net/en/News/gulf/2020/07/15/-Saudi-Arabia-rules-in-favor-of-woman-living-independently-without-permission

A court in Saudi Arabia has ruled in favor of a woman who was on trial for living and traveling on her own to the Kingdom’s capital, Riyadh, without her father’s permission.

“A historic ruling was issued today, affirming that independence of a sane, adult woman in a separate house is not a crime worthy of punishment,” al-Lahim said in a tweet. “I am very happy with this this ruling that ends tragic stories for women.”

The court ruled that the independence of the defendant in a separate home is not considered a punishable criminal act as the “woman is a sane adult who has the right to decide where she wants to live,” according to the document.

In an interview with Al Arabiya, al-Lahim said that he considers this a historic ruling because it represents a significant change is underway within the Kingdom’s judicial system.

...

[kimbutgar]

1. Wow that's great

I read a book written several years ago about a woman who in her up in that opppresive society. I never respected Saudi Arabia after that.

[niyad]

2. That is a stunner.

[gratuitous]

3. Does it truly end tragic stories for women?

I'm not up on Saudi law, but does a woman need a certificate of sanity to leave her home? If she isn't living in a separate house from her father or other male relative, or she isn't an adult, does she have to independently establish her sanity should she venture outside those four walls? Does this ruling, then, apply only to single adult women living in a separate house from their fathers? Baby steps, I know, but I still have questions.

[GulfCoast66]

5. There really is no law in SA. It whatever the king wants.

The current plan Is liberalization on issues the west pays attention too while clamping down like North Korea on any dissent.

The king knows the clerics are a competing power and is moving to crush them. Breaking with the deal that created SA in the first place.

We need to abandon that place like the next COVID.

[Hortensis]

4. Incredibly important advance. It'll be fought in large

cases and small, of course. But still!

[Thomas Hurt]

6. That will stir up the fundamentalists.

[Bev54]

7. Don't get too excited

The Saudis are known from creating smoke screens to look like they are becoming more tolerant but it is often not what it seems.

[ResistantAmerican17]

8. They sawed a journalist into pieces. I'll hold my attaboys.

[rpannier]

9. True on the killing

But this is a Saudi court

[ancianita]

10. The King knows that oil as income will disappear from the land of Saud in 30 years,

and so Saudis will have to go back to work at something to have any kind of income.

This ruling is warming up Saudi society for that eventuality.

[Fla Dem]

11. Let see if the religious fanatics take the law into their own hands.

They’ve been known to stone people.

[hunter]

12. When Saudi Arabia collapses its adult male refugees won't be welcome anywhere.

This is a small step forward, but not enough to change that.

[Joinfortmill]

13. This is progress, but WTF? It's 2020.

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

14. What truly boggles my mind is that there are educated women in that country.

A while back I read In the Land of Invisible Women: A Female Doctor's Journey in the Saudi Kingdom by Qanta Ahmed.

This is from the description on Amazon:

After being denied a visa to remain in the U.S., British-born Ahmed, a Muslim woman of Pakistani origin, takes advantage of an opportunity, before 9/11, to practice medicine in Saudi Arabia. She discovers her new environment is defined by schizophrenic contrasts that create an absurd clamorous clash of modern and medieval.

What if found both stunning and disturbing was her falling into the norms of that culture, going along with the strict gender segregation, putting up with being ignored as a fellow doctor by the male doctors around her. I kept on trying very hard to appreciate and honor her particular religious belief, but every so often all I could think was, "WTF?"

I would recommend that book. Because it is written by someone educated in the West but ensconced in Middle Eastern beliefs and culture, it is genuinely fascinating and enlightening.

Meanwhile, my personal take on all things is religious is to be completely baffled when some even semi-educated and reasonable woman goes along with the teachings of any religion that says women are not full equals.