Saudi police question woman who wore miniskirt in video

RIYADH: Saudi police said Tuesday they were questioning a woman who appeared in an online video in a miniskirt and crop top walking through a historic site in the ultraconservative kingdom.
A series of videos, initially posted over the weekend to the Snapchat account of "Model Khulood", show a young woman in a high-waisted miniskirt walking through a fort in Ushaiqer, outside the capital Riyadh, playing with sand in the dunes and turning towards the camera for a close-up, her long hair uncovered.
The videos have since been uploaded to YouTube and tweeted by different users.
Saudi media, including the main dailies Sabq and Okaz, on Tuesday quoted a spokesman for police in Riyadh as saying the woman was being questioned and had confessed to visiting the site with her male guardian.
Saudi Arabia's guardianship system mandates accompaniment by or written permission from a male relative — usually a father, husband or brother – for women to study, work or travel.
The woman denied that she had uploaded the clips and that the Snapchat account was hers, the spokesman said.
The case has now been referred to the public prosecutor's office, which will decide whether to prosecute the woman.
The local government of Riyadh had issued a memo saying authorities were searching for the woman who had been "walking around ... in indecent clothing".
The snaps have sparked heated debate, with social media users in the region and beyond weighing in on questions of gender and rights in the kingdom, where women are required to wear long black abaya robes and cover their hair in public. – AFP