A Saudi cleric claims the best way for his country
to prevent sexual molestation of young girls is to require them to wear
burkas.
The comments, made by cleric Sheikh Abdullah Daoud,
come in the wake of the Fayhan al-Ghamdi verdict. Al-Ghamdi is a Saudi
cleric accused of raping and torturing his five-year-old daughter to
death. On Saturday, Digital Journal reported al-Ghamdi was ordered to pay "blood money" to the slain girl's mother, but was spared a jail sentence.
Following the verdict, Manal al-Sharif, a women’s rights activist, launched the "Ana Lama" campaign via Twitter.
The campaign is aimed at forcing the Saudi government to enact
legislation that would criminalize violence against women and children.
Under Saudi Arabia’s current Islamic law, a father cannot be executed
for murdering his children, or for murdering his wife.
Daoud, whose critics have dubbed his idea the "baby burkas” campaign,
made the comments in October of last year. However following the
al-Ghamdi verdict, the comments are just now beginning to receive
widespread attention.
During a television interview on Islamic Al-Majd TV, Daoud said wearing
veils that completely covered the face would help prevent baby girls
from being molested. He went on to claim that unnamed medical and
security sources say there is an increase in the number of babies and
young girls being molested, citing the case of a 49-year-old man accused of raping his daughter no less than 288 times as an example.
Former Saudi Board of Grievances judge, Sheikh Mohammad Al-Jzlana, is publicly criticizing Daoud for his comments, telling Al Arabiya that the comments were denigrating to Islam and Shariah and “made Islam look bad”. Read moreHow will burqa prevent girls from being raped by their own fathers or brothers? Every woman in Saudi Arabia is covered in burqa and are completely segregated. There have been wide spread cases where men have dug up the graves of women and raped the dead women. They can hide them in burqa or bury them, these monsters will not leave them alone. Almost always foreigners are hanged publicly for these crimes but Saudis pay blood money and go free. What a shame!!!
