JEDDAH — A human rights activist has strongly criticized the complications put before Saudi women to obtain their own passports without the consent of their male guardians. Suhaila Zain Al-Abdeen, member of the National Society for Human Rights (NSHR), was responding to recent statements by the Director General of Passports (Jawazat) Maj. Gen. Solaiman Al-Yahya, who said Saudi women would be allowed to have their own passports issued for them if they show a letter from a court. “Why does the issuance of a woman's passports depend on a letter from the court?” Al-Abdeen told Ain Al-Yaum electronic newspaper, Saudi Gazette's sister publication. She said a letter from the court might take time to process even though the traveler might have a family emergency to tend to. “Why is a young man under 20 not asked for the consent of his male guardian or to bring a letter from the court when he wants to obtain a passport while his own biological mother may need a letter from the court if she wishes to have a passport? “Is it a case of trusting the young man while we deny this right to the woman who gave birth to him?” Al-Abdeen said women in all Islamic countries do not need letters from the courts to be issued with passports. “There are no conditions for the issuance of passports to women in Kuwait, which is very similar to us in customs and traditions and has a number of fanatic religious scholars.” She suggested that the condition of having a letter from the court could be applied to women under 21 but not those who are 25 or over. “Before the oil discovery, men in the Arabian Peninsula had more confidence in women than now. “When they went out hunting or digging for jewels, they would leave their wives behind in the protection of the village's chieftains and children for more than four months.” Al-Abdeen said there is no confidence or trust in women in the Kingdom even though a number of them have reached distinguished positions and have been recognized internationally.
