Her husband told officers that he didn’t have time to drop his wife off at home before going to work and that he forgot to open a window like he usually did when he left her in the car. The temperature inside the car is believed to have rapidly reached over 70 °C (158 Fahrenheit). Stuck inside the car for hours at such temperatures, the woman had no chance of survival.
Saudi Interior Ministry spokesman Maj. Gen. Mansour al-Turki, told reporters that no charges would be filed against Fiza Haifeh’s husband, since her death was unintentional. Every year, approximately 2500 people die of hyperthermia across the world after being left in vehicles.
The majority of these victims are elderly people or young children. In the Arabian peninsula, however, more than 75% of the victims are adult woman, who are left in cars by their husbands or brethren. In Saudi Arabia alone, the numbers of heatstroke deaths of women in cars averages 37 a year, with a record of 49 in 2010.
According to Human Rights Watch, these women prefer to remain in the vehicles and endure unbearable heat rather than exiting and facing possible arrest and physical punishment. Although women’s rights have been incrementally extended in recent years, women who walk alone in the street still face up to 50 lashes if they get caught.
Saudi Arabia Admits Women Are Just Mammals “Not Yet Human”
Riyadh | In an unprecedented ruling, a panel of Saudi scientists has concluded that women are actually mammals, granting them the same rights as other mammal species such as camels, dromedaries and even goats. The verdict, which fell just hours before the International Women’s Day, is considered “historic” by some experts and advocacy groups for women’s rights.
“This is a great leap forward for women’s rights in Saudi Arabia,” concludes Jane Austin, spokeswoman for the Women’s Liberation Action Network. “It may seem too little, too late, but it is truly a milestone event for all women in the region,” she says, visibly excited. “From now on, women will be considered as members of the mammal class, whereas before women shared the legal status of an object, similar to that of a home appliance,” she admits.
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| Saudi Scientist Panel Raised women status to Mammals from objects. |
“This verdict shows the incredible progress the women’s rights movement has made in the past 50 years,” she admitted in a press conference this morning. “Finally, women will no longer be simply considered as objects without souls, but as full-fledged mammals, with the same rights as other animals of their species such as camels and goats,” she said, visibly emotional. “Women are still far from being considered 100% human, but their condition will improve drastically with this decision,” she firmly believes.
The verdict, which fell like a ton of bricks on the Saudi state, has clearly not found unanimous support amongst religious authorities and the political elite, concede experts.
“It could create significant turmoil in the current legal state of affairs and the judiciary system of Saudi Arabia,” says political analyst specialized in the Middle East, Anthony Bochstein. “If before women had the same rights as a chair or a table and were seen more as individual property, they now have an equivalent status to certain animal species, and thus must receive, at the very least, feeding, watering and be conferred a minimum of attention and respect, which was not the case previously,” he explains.
According to the expert panel that ruled on the matter, women are still devoid of a soul but have been shown to possess qualities common to the mammal species, which would explain their ability to procreate and breastfeed, as well as why they are equipped with seven cervical vertebrae, a characteristic unique to the mammal species.
A Woman Can Go To Heaven If Accompanied By A Male Relative
The ultra-conservative Islamic Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is slowly but surely opening to an increased role for women in society, as for the first time in the country’s history, an important religious leader has declared it possible for women to be admitted into Heaven.
In a sermon he delivered at the Prophet’s Mosque in Medina last Friday, the progressive Imam Sheikh Salah Al-Budair declared that women can be admitted into heaven, as long as they are accompanied by “Mahram relatives” (male kin, who is not suitable for marriage under Islamic law).
This surprising declaration is in complete rupture with the country’s traditional hard line, which states that woman can never be admitted into Heaven, under any circumstances. Sheikh Salah Al-Budair confirmed his position yesterday, during a panel of discussion on the role of women in Islamic society. He declared that he was convinced that “more than a few” Muslim women who were “good wives and good mothers”, have already been admitted into Heaven.
A group of conservative scholars and religious leaders from across Saudi Arabia, overseen by the country’s ministry of Islamic Affairs, signed a declaration condemning the Imam’s sermon as a blasphemy, and reaffirming that “only men are worthy of going to Heaven”.
“It’s our responsibility to spread the true word of God, and all irresponsible people like Sheikh al-Budair are tarnishing Islam contrary to the teachings of the Quran and the Hadith.” asserts the declaration. “Women are sinners by nature and, therefore, cannot be admitted in Allah’s kingdom. Of course, they should still live a devout life to help their sons and husbands go to Heaven.”
The scholars said that many deviant groups and individuals over the centuries have been responsible for the spreading such false beliefs, which are not part of the teaching of Islam. They advised all Muslims to “keep away from all the rituals and beliefs which are unislamic”.
Minister of Islamic Affairs, Endowments, Call and Guidance, Sheikh Saleh al-Sheikh told the al-Watan newspaper that Sheikh Al-Budair would be allowed to continue preaching, but will now be closely watched. The simple fact that the progressive Imam wasn’t arrested, suggests that some influential members of the Royal family may have secretly come to his defense.
Rumors have already begun to spread, relayed by the Saudi media, that Princess Fahda bint Falah bin Sultan, the King’s second wife and mother of the Crown Prince Mohammed, could have used her influence to keep the religious leader from being arrested.
The controversy has drawn reactions
from various groups in the region, including Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula,
who promised to kill the Imam if he doesn’t withdraw his declaration. Sheikh
Salah Al-Budair is expected to preach again at the Prophet’s Mosque next
Friday, and his sermon promises to draw a lot attention from both the media and
the religious authorities.