Saudi Arabia\u2014A Saudi judge at a seminar on domestic violence recently announced that slapping your wife is permissible if the wives spend too much money, Saudi media reported Sunday.<\/p>\n
The Saudi English-language daily newspaper based in Riyadh called Arab News, reported that Judge Hama Al-Razine said that \u201cif a person gives SR 1,200 ($320) to his wife and she spends 900 riyals ($240) to purchase an abaya\u2014the black cover that is mandatory for all women in Saudi Arabia to wear\u2014from a brand shop and if her husband slaps her on the face as a reaction to her action, she deserves that punishment.\u201d<\/p>\n
There was an immediate reaction of loud protesting by the women in the audience to Al-Razine’s statement. The audience was also shocked to learn that the statement was made by a judge, the newspaper reported.<\/p>\n
Domestic violence has apparently been increasing in Saudi Arabia and the Arab News reported that Al-Razine’s remark was an attempt to explain this. He said that women and men shared responsibility, but that \u201cnobody puts even a fraction of blame\u201d on women, the newspaper said.<\/p>\n
Al-Razine also \u201cpointed out that women’s indecent behavior and use of offensive words against their husbands were some of the reasons for domestic violence in the country,\u201d it added.<\/p>\n
In the conservative kingdom, domestic violence has also been a taboo, until now. This recent hot topic has groups like the National Family Safety Program campaigning to educate the public about the problem in an aid to prevent domestic abuse.<\/p>\n
Women’s rights activist, Wajeha Al-Huwaider, told CNN that Saudi women continuously face such attitudes.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is how men in Saudi Arabia see women,\u201d she said in a telephone interview from the Saudi city of Dahran. \u201cIt’s not something they read in a book or learned from a friend. They’ve been raised to see women this way, that they’re less than a person.\u201d<\/p>\n
Al-Huwaider added that \u201cI’m not surprised to see a judge or a religious man saying that\u2014they’ve been raised in the same culture\u2014a culture that tells them it’s okay to raise your hand to a woman, that this works.\u201d<\/p>\n
There was another recent controversy with another judge because he denied a request from the mother of an 8-year-old girl that the girl be granted a divorce from her 47-year-old husband twice.<\/p>\n
Last month, after human-rights groups condemned the union, the girl was allowed the divorce.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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