Saudi Arabia amends law to allow single women to live alone without needing male permission after landmark ruling in writer Mariam al Otaibi's case
The law was amended as part of a landmark ruling in favour of 32-year-old Mariam al Otaibi, a writer, who won herOtaibi spent more than 100 days in prison in Saudi Arabia after her father filed a complaint to police against her for leaving home and workingShe had moved from the ultraconservative province of Qassim to the capital, where supporters helped her rent an apartment and find work.
“An adult woman has the right to choose where to live. A woman’s guardian can report her only if he has evidence proving she committed a crime,” Gulf News quoted the amended text as saying. The changed law also means women inmates will not be forced to return to their family or male guardians upon their release.
From childhood through adulthood, every Saudi woman passes from the control of one legal guardian to another, a male relative whose decisions can determine the course of her life. Legal guardians are often a woman's father or husband, but can also be a brother or her own son. Statistics from the Ministry of Labor and Social Development show that 577 Saudi women tried to flee their homes within Saudi Arabia in 2015. That figure is likely to be much higher in reality because many families do not report runaways for fear of social stigma.
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