THE TELEGRAPH: Gulf nation is liberalising and the West needs to alter its outdated perceptions
If anything sums up the mystery of Saudi Arabia, it is the story of two women who "mingled" with members of the opposite sex.
One was Khamisa Sawadi, a 75-year-old grandmother sentenced to 40 lashes for being found in the presence of a man who was not a blood relative. It was her late husband's nephew, and he had called at her house to deliver a loaf of bread.
The other was Aisha Natto, a businesswoman from Jeddah, who was to be seen the other day "mingling" quite openly with a large number of men: Saudis, other Arabs and Westerners. Many of the women around her were not even veiled.
The very same government that has refused to intervene on behalf of Mrs Sawadi was hosting the Global Competitiveness Forum at Riyadh's Four Seasons Hotel, where Dr Natto received an award as founder of one of the country's fastest growing businesses.
The forum is one of a string of initiatives by which Saudi Arabia is trying to change its reputation as an inward-looking, conservative – and men-only – state whose economic policies revolve around deploying its oil wealth in the interests of its ruling family. >>> Richard Spencer in Riyadh | Sunday, February 07, 2010
*They’ll be telling us next that we can go skinny dipping there!
