Feminism is not ‘criminal offence’ in Saudi Arabia – officials

Saudi Arabia’s presidency of State Security has offered a clarification regarding the ‘extremism concept’ video issued last week, local media reported.

The content of the promotional video, released by the General Department for Counter-Extremism, was inaccurate and contained multiple errors in defining ‘extremism’, the statement said.

The presidency assured of concrete steps being taken to ensure such mistakes are not repeated, adding that the person who created and published the video acted on his own accord.

The presidency also clarified an article – published in local daily newspaper Al-Watan on November 11 – that read “heavy punishment will be imposed on feminists, including jail time and flogging”, disregarding its contents as untrue, the statement added.

The Saudi Human Rights Commission tweeted regarding the kingdom’s stance on the importance of women’s rights.

The #HumanRights Commission confirms that feminism is not criminalized in the Kingdom of #SaudiArabia and that it accords the utmost importance to women’s rights, pointing to the fundamental strides taken in the empowerment of women which have granted her her complete rights

— Saudi Human Rights Commission (@HRCSaudi_EN) November 12, 2019