A young Saudi woman sparked a sensation online over the weekend by posting a video of herself in a miniskirt and crop top walking around in public, with some Saudis calling for her arrest and others rushing to her defense.
The women wears a skirt that stops above her knees and a top that shows her midriff her head is also uncovered.
Officials in the deeply conservative Muslim country are looking into taking possible action against the woman, who violated 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.
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The brief videos, originally posted to the social network Snapchat over the weekend by a popular user named Khulood, show the woman walking through an ancient fort in Ushayqir, a village in Najd province about 95 miles from the capital, Riyadh.
Such an outfit runs afoul of conservative Islamic ideas about women's dress that are prevalent in Saudi Arabia. The country legally requires women to cover themselves while in public by wearing an abaya, a loose fitting cloak. Traditionally, Saudi women are also expected to wear some kind of hijab or head covering, and some opt to cover their face with a niqab.
Although foreigners are usually exempted from such rules and Saudi women themselves often find ways to skirt them, many religiously conservative Saudis feel strongly about them.
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