Saudis consider banning women from Mecca
By DONNA ABU-NASR, Associated Press Writer Thu Sep 7, 2:25 PM ET
JIDDAH, Saudi Arabia - Officials are considering an unprecedented
proposal to ban women from performing the five Muslim prayers in the
immediate vicinity of Islam's most sacred shrine in Mecca. Some say
women are already being kept away.
ADVERTISEMENT
The issue has raised a storm of protest across the kingdom, with some
women saying they fear the move is meant to restrict women's roles in
Saudi society even further. But the religious authorities behind the
proposal insist its real purpose is to lessen the chronic problem of
overcrowding, which has led to deadly riots during pilgrimages at Mecca
in the past.
-cont.-
---
Shouldn't it start with one of the U.S.'s major allies in the region and
a Bush family business partner? Or is this the democracy Bush intended
all along?
.
|
