THE WHISTLEBLOWERS OF SAUDI ARABIA: THE KINGDOM OF MEN

Chrystopher Wylie and Afzal Kohistani are considered two of the most well known whistleblowers of modern day acts against individual rights. Investigative journalism by N. Ram on the Rafale deal and Suki kim for her undercover work in North Korea have been considered a couple of the most daring acts of the day. But equally or more important have been the exposés about the kingdom of oil, dates, gold and men: Saudi Arabia. Saudi Arabia has been on the news lately for a range of reasons. With Crown Prince Mohammad Bin Salman’s (MBS) ‘revolutionary’ changes, Act East policy, attempts at diversifying the oil based economy and the blood chilling murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi in the Saudi consulate at Istanbul, the limelight has finally shifted from Donald Trump to MBS. At the same time, the world has also turned its one open eye to young women who have fled from Saudi Arabia. The year began with Rahaf Mohammad Al qunun barricading herself in a Thai hotel, in an attempt to prevent her deportation back to Saudi Arabia. She did not want to face the same fate of Dina Lasloom who had been intercepted by Saudi authorities at the Thai airport and deported back to Saudi Arabia in 2017, never to be heard from again. Al qunun, the daughter of a Saudi Arabian governor (who disowned her as ‘mentally unstable’), described the alarming abuse and threats she faced at home. She was locked up in her room for six months because she cut her hair the ‘wrong way’ and beaten up by her elder brother for removing her niqab. This incident throws light on Saudi Arabia’s rampant guardianship or wali system. Under Saudi law, each woman has a male guardian, who may be the woman’s husband, father, brother or son. Without their permission, women are not allowed to marry, travel, obtain a divorce or open a bank account and do many activities that are considered trivial for women around the world. Though the wali system is not explicitly mentioned in Saudi law, it is practiced according to the understanding of officials and institutions such as the police, hospitals and courts. This means that the boundaries and scope of the wali system is like an amoeba and is subject to individual interpretation rather than scholastic jurisprudence. The shallow nature of the system can be summarized when activist Wajeha Al- Huwaider said that if she wanted to remarry, she would have to get the permission of her son. Defenders of the wali system like Noura Abdulrahman, who was employed in the Saudi Ministry of Education called the basis of such a system as “love”. She said “They (the guardians) ask nothing in return- they only want to be with me. The image in the West is that we are dominated by men, but they always forget the aspect of love”. Even assuming that the first sentence is true, the second sentence lacks both common sense and logic. What this system represents is not love but pure cruel slavery. What is loving in beating up a woman just because she decided to step out of the house alone? What is loving in deciding a woman’s entire life to suit the male guardian’s needs with no regard to the woman? And most importantly what is loving in a patriarchy? It is important to remember that this system is more about patriarchy than about religion. In 2019, Saudi Arabia launched an app called Absher which apart from providing a plethora of services like renewing passports, applying for jobs and Hajj permits, can also be used to track the whereabouts of a woman under a man’s guardianship. The app would send a message to the guardian if it detected the use of passport at the border by the woman under his guardianship. Al qunun’s story could be considered a repetition of Laura’s (pseudonym) who was also granted asylum in Canada. Across the globe, stranded in Hong Kong, are two sisters Reem and Rawan (pseudonyms) who spent six months in the city instead of a two hour stopover on their way to Australia. They also retell stories of abuse in the hands of their father and brothers. Currently they are hanging on a loose thread of hope that they would not be deported. They describe themselves as “fish trapped in a little oasis that is rapidly drying out”. Reem hopes to become an author to tell the sisters’ experiences to the world. Saudi Arabia is known for many gender unjust laws such as the muttawa or religious police and gender segregation in buses and stadiums much like the Apartheid system. MBS has been praised for allowing women to drive and go to stadiums. The thing about freedom is that is cannot be served in small doses. Neither can it be superficial to please an international community. Giving women the right to vote in 2015 and the right to drive in 2018 is not called freedom, it is called a late dawning to allow their mere existence as humans in the world. When the entire world was ready to take severe action against the kingdom over the murder of Jamal Khashoggi why not about the centuries old male guardianship system? It is ironic that Sophia the humanoid robot who was granted citizenship in Saudi Arabia was not forced to wear an abaya like the millions of women in the kingdom. Al qunun’s dramatic escape is a milestone in the path to freedom for Saudi Arabian women. In the words of Al qunun “I am sure that there will be a lot more women running away. I hope my story encourages other women to be brave and free”.