In an article on the liberal website Minbar Al-Hiwar Wal-'Ibra (http://www.menber-alhewar1.info ), reformist Saudi journalist and human rights activist Wajeha Al-Huweidar described Saudi Arabia as "the world's largest women's prison." She added that unlike real prisoners, Saudi women have no prospect of ever being released, since throughout their life, they are under the control of a male guardian - their husband, father, grandfather, brother or son.

Huweidar and other women activists recently launched a campaign against the Saudi Mahram [1] Law, which forbids women to leave their home without a male guardian. She told the Kuwaiti daily Awan that the campaign, whose slogan is "treat us like adult citizens or we leave the country," was officially launched at the King Fahd Bridge, connecting Saudi Arabia and Bahrain, where the women demanded to cross the border without a guardian..

The issue of abuse of women by Sudan's public order police [1] recently gained prominence in the Sudanese and other media, after Sudanese journalist Lubna Ahmad Hussein and 12 other women were arrested in Khartoum on July 3, 2009, for wearing trousers. Two days later, 10 of the women were summoned to the police station and received punishments of 10 lashes each. Charges were brought against three others, including Hussein, for inappropriate dress and conduct.

Clause 152 of Sudanese criminal law mandates up to 40 lashes and/or a fine for inappropriate dress as well as for conduct that contravenes accepted norms.

Incidents of this kind are widespread in Sudan, and are usually disregarded by the local and global media...

A Saudi Arabian princess who had an illegitimate child with a British man has secretly been granted asylum in this country after she claimed she would face the death penalty if she were forced to return home. The young woman, who has been granted anonymity by the courts, won her claim for refugee status after telling a judge that her adulterous affair made her liable to death by stoning...