Saudi girl defies 'rules of dress', wears miniskirt in public

Women in Saudi Arabia must wear long, loose robes known as 'abayas' in public.

A young Saudi woman has sparked a sensation online by violating kingdom's rules of dress. In a video, she was seen walking in a miniskirt in public. Some conservative Saudis have called for her arrest and others have rushed to her defense.

State-linked news websites reported on Monday that officials in the deeply conservative Muslim country are looking into taking possible action against the woman for violating the kingdom's rules of dress.

Women in Saudi Arabia must wear long, loose robes known as 'abayas' in public. Most also cover their hair and face with a black veil, though exceptions are made for visiting dignitaries.

The video, first shared on Snapchat, shows her walking around an empty historic fort in Ushaiager, a village north of the capital, Riyadh, in the desert region of Najd, where many of Saudi Arabia's most conservative tribes and families are from.

Ibrahim al-Munayif, a Saudi writer with more than 41,000 followers on Twitter, wrote on his official account that allowing people to disobey the law leads to chaos.

Others defended her by posting images from President Donald Trump's visit to Saudi Arabia in May, in which First Lady Melania Trump and his daughter Ivanka, though modestly dressed in higher necklines and longer sleeves, shunned wearing a head cover or the abaya.

According to Saudi media officials in Ushaiager called on the region's governor and police to take actions against the woman in response to the video, without elaborating further. Saudi news website Sabq reported that the kingdom's morality police had corresponded with other agencies to investigate further after the video was brought to their attention.

(With agency inputs)