A user, @AzzatAlsaalem on X (formerly Twitter) posted a tweet on Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s comment on the autonomy Saudi Arabian women will have on the kind of clothes they wear. The caption read, “Prince Mohammed bin Salman: “From now on, only Saudi Arabian women can decide what clothes Saudi Arabian women wear.”
We also found the claim shared on Instagram.
Fact Check
Upon conducting an investigation, we found an interview by Mohammed bin Salman with 60 minutes by CBS News. The article was dated March 19, 2018. In the article, the DFRAC team found that Mohammed bin Salman did not say, “From now on, only Saudi Arabian women can decide what clothes Saudi Arabian women wear.” Rather he enforced the law stating, “… women wear decent, respectful clothing, … The decision is entirely left for women to decide what type of decent and respectful attire she chooses to wear.”
Nonetheless, by ‘decent and respectful clothing’, the decision is not left entirely for women to decide what kind of clothes they choose to wear. Also, the statement is not from recent times, but from 2018.
Conclusion
Therefore, it is confirmed by DFRAC that Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s comment on women’s autonomy on their clothing is misleading. Saudi Arabian women cannot decide what kind of clothes they want to wear but rather are limited to Islamic-approved clothing. Furthermore, the statement is from 2018.
DFRAC Analysis: Misleading
