Several women in Saudi Arabia have been summoned by The Commission for the Prevention of Vice and Promotion of Virtue, known as Haia, for allegedly attempting to hold a beauty pageant in the holy city of Mecca, an action that violates Sharia law.
The women were questioned after leaflets calling on young women to participate in the pageant were found by several angry citizens who then reported it to the state’s morality police.
The female organisers invited girls and women to participate in the pageant, called ‘Miss Makkah’, which was supposed to take place over four consecutive nights before it was canceled by the Haia. The organisers are now under investigation by the local vice police for violating Sharia enforced within the strict Islamic state.
The women had allegedly booked and paid for a banquet hall in Mecca, but authorities ordered them to cancel the pageant.
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Miss Makkah had been advertised on social media and leaflets distributed locally, inviting women “of any colour aged between 17 and 27 years” to participate in the free-of-charge pageant.
The advert reportedly said the winner of the ‘Miss Makkah’ pageant would receive a gold ring, while runners-up could expect “valuable gifts”.
Saudi Arabia follows an ultraconservative interpretation of Islam and bans women from a number of day-to-day activities, including driving a car, trying on clothes when shopping and entering a cemetery.
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Women in the country are expected to observe stringent rules surrounding their behaviour and dress in the conservative Kingdom.
Women are also banned from going out in public without a male chaperone, and although King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz passed a law in 2011 that would allow women to vote, it would not come into force until 2015.
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