"When the outside world thinks of Saudi women there are two images that appear to characterize all of us without exclusion or exception. We are veiled and we don't drive." Article by Lubna Hussain.
Saudi Arabia's top religious authority has banned the practice of forcing women to marry against their will. Grand mufti Sheikh Abdul Aziz al-Sheikh said forced marriage was against Islamic law and those responsible for it should be jailed.
Raid Qusti comments, "As human beings, we should be free to practice our own faith and live our own lives, as long as doing so does not harm anybody and does not break the law."
Saudi Arabia has held its first elections of any kind for 40 years. Women had expected to have the vote: six even put their names forward as candidates. But, in one of the world's most repressive societies, they were banned from the poll.
"Des femmes se sont proclamées candidates aux élections municipales qui auront lieu en février 2005, dans un pays où elles n’ont pas le droit de vote", rapporte Arab News.
