No sex please, we’re Middle Eastern

The Economist reports:

Saudi Arabia and Iran, regional and religious rivals, are the bossiest. Both regimes claim to be Islamic. Both have vice squads. In Iran they berate women for showing too much fringe; in Saudi Arabia, for wearing too flirty an abaya, the big, usually black, cloak that is mandatory for females there, or being in the company of unrelated males. They enforce bans on alcohol, parties and other things that normal people, even the most morally upright, enjoy. Saudi media recently reported that female bureaucrats wearing too much make-up would be fined 1000 riyals ($266).

Police in Algeria, Morocco and Sudan, too, have powers to stamp out immorality. Sudan’s criminal code, which outlaws adultery and women wearing trousers, is particularly harsh. Vague laws across the region such as causing offence and encouraging indecency are broad and open to abuse. Violators can be flogged.

In November Saudi Arabia sentenced Ashraf Fayadh, a poet, to death. He was accused of apostasy and of having illicit relations with women, whose images he stored in his phone. He denies the charges. He had previously posted a video showing the religious police whipping a man; his supporters think the police are taking revenge. Saudi Arabia beheads people for moral transgressions. Iran hangs them.

Since the 1970s Arab populations have grown more devout. This makes it easier for rulers to use “morality” to keep them in line. Women, especially, are told how to dress and under what circumstances they may have sex. In Morocco and Algeria, women who are raped are sometimes made to marry their rapist.

No word from Hillary Clinton (Democrat-Saudi Arabia ) of Clinton Foundation on this story. Is Hillary an enabler of womens rights being denied in the Middle East?