The Saudi commerce ministry has
confiscated more than 82,000 ‘abayas’, the obligatory all-covering black cloaks for women, that violated Islamic religious rules, a newspaper said today.
Al-Jazirahdaily said the bust came after ministry teams searched more than 300 shops and 50 factories in the cities of Jeddah, Riyadh and Dammam.
The confiscated cloaks were found to be revealing, tight and carried drawings and decorations in violation of a religious fatwa, or ruling, which requires that "decent women's cloaks" should also be thick and open from the front only.
The crackdown was conducted by the ministry in coordination with the kingdom's religious police.
Saudi women are veiled in black in public and are not allowed to travel without the approval of a husband, father or other close male relative, or to eat alone in a restaurant.
AFP