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| Arabia |
| Saudi Crown Prince's Wife Defends Veil |
| 2004-08-03 |
| August 3rd, 2004, 2:10 PM EDT DUBAI, United Arab Emirates -- The wife of Saudi Arabia's crown prince defended wearing the veil, compulsory for women in the kingdom, saying in a rare interview published Tuesday that women are happy with the traditional garb. Princess Hasah al-Shalaan praised her husband, Crown Prince Abdullah, for supporting women and their rights in the conservative kingdom. "He doesn't distinguish (between his sons and daughters), and always says that a woman has her rights, given to her by God and Islam, so why should we take them away from her," she said in the interview with the Arab daily al-Hayat. She also defended the wearing of the veil, saying, "I ask God to maintain the blessing (of the veil). This modest, conservative dress makes people equal and is a symbol of our religion." "We respect our traditions and culture and the religion of others; why doesn't the West respect our reality and life and thoughts? Everyone must know that, especially for woman, we have our traditions and culture and we will not give them up. The Saudi woman is generally happy with this situation." The paper published a picture of the crown prince with the interview, but did not carry a photograph of his wife. The wives of senior Saudi officials rarely give interviews to the media and are not often seen in public. |
| Posted by:Mark Espinola |
| #3 Why is the veils compulsory then? If what you say is true then you should not need a 'ministry of vice and vurtue' (or whatever its called) who beats women for not wearing a veil would you? Instead your government has to enforce your religions convictions on everyone else under pain of a beating or death. |
| Posted by: CrazyFool 2004-08-03 11:07:33 PM |
| #2 By wearing veils, maybe they are doing the rest of us a favour. |
| Posted by: Super Hose 2004-08-03 10:53:39 PM |
| #1 He doesn’t distinguish (between his sons and daughters) I'll just bet he doesn't. |
| Posted by: BH 2004-08-03 5:34:24 PM |