--- title: Saudi Woman Arrested for Posting 'Uncovered' Twitter Photos description: Saudi police have arrested a woman who took her hijab and full body covering off in public and posted photos on Twitter on a Riyadh street. canonical: https://time.com/4598928/saudi-woman-arrested-twitter-hijab/ author: Kate Samuelson article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-12-13T13:48:29.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-04-13T09:04:05.891Z og:title: Saudi Woman Arrested for Posting 'Uncovered' Twitter Photos og:description: "The action of this woman violates the laws applied in this country" og:url: https://time.com/4598928/saudi-woman-arrested-twitter-hijab/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt9ca64ebcf3f401c6/6988b2bdcf40a85e7bc45d6e/hijab-saudi-arabia.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: Women in traditional dress shopping at a mall, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Saudi Woman Arrested for Posting 'Uncovered' Twitter Photos twitter:description: "The action of this woman violates the laws applied in this country" twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt9ca64ebcf3f401c6/6988b2bdcf40a85e7bc45d6e/hijab-saudi-arabia.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Saudi Woman Arrested for Posting Photos of Herself Without a Hijab on Twitter by [Kate Samuelson](https://time.com/author/kate-samuelson/) ## Kate Samuelson Dec 13, 2016 1:48 PM UTC  Women in traditional dress shop at a mall Jeddah Saudi Arabia. Women in traditional dress shop at a mall Jeddah Saudi Arabia.Getty Images by [Kate Samuelson](https://time.com/author/kate-samuelson/) ## Kate Samuelson Dec 13, 2016 1:48 PM UTC [Saudi police](http://motto.time.com/4585511/saudi-arabia-prince-alwaleed-bin-talal-women-drive/) have arrested a woman who took off her headscarf and full body covering in public and posted photos of herself on Twitter on a main street in [Riyadh](http://time.com/4299949/saudi-arabia-barack-obama-visit/), Saudi Arabia’s capital, last month. According to [AFP](http://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/afp/2016/12/saudi-police-women-rights-veil.html#ixzz4ShDBI3RG), police arrested the woman, who has not been named by authorities, on Monday. The woman, who is now in prison, has also been accused of “speaking openly about prohibited relations with (non-related) men,” the news wire reports. In a statement, Saudi police spokesman Fawaz al-Maiman wrote that “the action of this woman violates the laws applied in this country.” He urged the public to “adhere to the teachings of Islam.” According to the [_International Business Times_](http://www.ibtimes.com/saudi-woman-without-hijab-attacked-execution-called-conservative-muslim-twitter-users-2452342), when the woman’s photos began circulating on social media, many Twitter users urged violent punishments, with one writing “Kill her and throw her corpse to the dogs.” “The least punishment for her is beheading her,” another wrote. Others, though, responded with messages of support. > [](https://twitter.com/DE%5FX77/status/803393317312589824) Women are required to wear the hijab and the traditional body covering known as the abaya in Saudi society, which has some of the world’s tightest restrictions on women and is the only country where they are not allowed to drive. Women were only allowed to vote in Saudi municipal elections for the first time last December, and they are required to obtain permission from their husband or a male relative to travel outside the country. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4598928/saudi-woman-arrested-twitter-hijab/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4598928/saudi-woman-arrested-twitter-hijab/"},"headline":"Saudi Woman Arrested for Posting Photos of Herself Without a Hijab on Twitter","datePublished":"2016-12-13T13:48:29.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T09:04:05.891Z","description":"\"The action of this woman violates the laws applied in this country,\" a police statement read","url":"https://time.com/4598928/saudi-woman-arrested-twitter-hijab/","keywords":["motto","Saudi Arabia","onetime"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt9ca64ebcf3f401c6/6988b2bdcf40a85e7bc45d6e/hijab-saudi-arabia.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Kate Samuelson","jobTitle":"","url":"https://time.com/author/kate-samuelson/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt9ca64ebcf3f401c6/6988b2bdcf40a85e7bc45d6e/hijab-saudi-arabia.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Women in traditional dress shopping at a mall, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia","caption":"Women in traditional dress shopping at a mall, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia","creditText":"Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/tag/motto/","name":"motto"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4598928/saudi-woman-arrested-twitter-hijab/","name":"Saudi Woman Arrested for Posting Photos of Herself Without a Hijab on Twitter"}}]}] ```