Picture ruling casts aspersion on Saudi men

Looks like the powerful religious establishment in Saudi Arabia are winning one over the king’s liberal approach for a quiet reform. In the past month mosque sermons and websites have started to criticise King Abdullah’s liberalisation process, including ones that could have given women more freedom.

The repercussion is swift. The government has now indefinitely postponed a move to have women assistants working at lingerie stores. They would have replaced the male shop assistants if that proposal has gone ahead.

Liberal watchers in the Islamic kingdom saw this chance as an evidence of progress on women's rights.

And on top of this the king has now ordered the country’s newspapers not to publish photographs of women.

And what made this ruling laughable was the reasoning that such photographs could lead young men astray.

In recent months, the state owned media have published pictures of women, always with the hair covered and only their face showing – usually to illustrate stories connected to women's issues, including the right to vote and drive, both of which are withheld.

The king had told all editors that publishing such photographs were inappropriate.

The king is reported to have said:

"Young people are driven by emotion and the spirit, but the spirit can go astray. So I ask you to go easy on these things."

This is sad indeed. Not just for the women as it looks like their freedom will remain curtailed in this country but also for the men. As now they are being portrayed by their king as sadistic creatures who are not in control of their sexual urges.