Saudi women with attractive eyes may be forced to cover even them up, if resolution is passed

• Islamic state fears effect of ‘tempting’ eyes on men
• Says it ‘has the right’ to issue repressive edict
  
• Women must already cover their hair and wear full-length black cloak
  

By MAIL FOREIGN SERVICE

Women with attractive eyes may be forced to cover them up under Saudi Arabia’s latest repressive measure, it was reported yesterday.

The ultra-conservative Islamic state has said it has the right to stop women revealing ‘tempting’ eyes in public.

A spokesperson for Saudi Arabia’s Committee for the Promotion of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice, Sheikh Motlab al Nabet, said a proposal to enshrine the measure in law has been tabled.

Women in Saudi Arabia already have to wear a long black cloak, called an abaya, cover their hair and, in some regions, conceal their faces while in public.

If they do not, they face punishments including fines and public floggings.

One report on the Bikya Masr news website suggested the proposal was made after a member of the committee was attracted by a woman’s eyes as he walked along a street, provoking a fight.

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The woman was walking with her husband who ended up being stabbed twice in the hand after the altercation.

The virtue and vice committee has repeatedly been accused of human rights violations.

Founded in 1940, its function is to ensure Islamic laws are not broken in public in Saudi Arabia.

In 2002, the committee refused to allow female students out of a burning school in the holy city of Mecca because they were not wearing correct head cover.

The decision is thought to have contributed to the high death toll of 15.

They are also banned from driving by religious edict and cannot travel without authorisation from their male guardians.

In September, a Saudi women sentenced to 10 lashes for defying the driving ban was only spared when King Abdullah stepped in to stop the public flogging.

Also in September, the king announced that women would be given the right to vote for the first time and run in the country’s 2015 local elections.

www.dailymail.co.uk, 19th November 2011