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The arrest of an Egyptian man filmed while eating with a colleague sparked an online debate in Saudi Arabia, where modest progress in the area of women's rights comes into conflict with traditionally conservative social values.
The video, broadcast on Saudi Twitter, showed a man in Egyptian dialect having breakfast alongside a woman wearing a full veil in Jeddah. Many have assumed that she was Saudi, the BBC reported.
The most controversial part of the video is where the woman seems to feed the man, a level of intimacy deemed inappropriate by many users of Saudi social media. Both can also be heard joking while eating breakfast together without anyone else being invited.
وهذا المقطع الثاني pic.twitter.com/ctVVT0Gs9A
– أ. سعيد المريتعي (@ saeed_oi12) September 9, 2018
Such familiarity is not common in the conservative realm, where families and single women must stay away from single men in many workplaces, restaurants or cafes. Women are often prohibited in these areas without being accompanied by a guardian, usually a husband's father but sometimes a brother or son.
The Saudi Ministry of Labor and Social Development announced that the man in the video had been arrested and accused of "committing several violations and taking a position exclusively reserved for the Saudis".
An Arabic hashtag translating as "an Egyptian having breakfast with a Saudi" has been used more than 113,000 times on Twitter as users debate the direction of the country.
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Some users suggested that the video was not at all outrageous and asked why colleagues could not share a meal and a joke without being stopped. But others said their behavior was inappropriate and even called for the woman's arrest.
Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, son and heir of King Salman and widely regarded as the real driving force of the throne, has become the international face of the Saudi family.
Aged 33, he heads the Vision 2030 project, which aims to diversify the Saudi economy and not rely too much on crude oil to create a "more dynamic society." turn the kingdom into a commercial power to rival the rich Gulf countries.
An important element of this image is greater freedom for Saudi women. In recent years, women have had the right to attend football matches, apply for certain jobs and go to the movies and concerts. Women also have the right to drive, a battle that Saudi militants have been fighting for decades.
But some observers suggest that few things really change. The lifting of the driving ban on women was accompanied by massive arrests of feminist activists, as the government sent a message that the rights were granted by the crown, and not won by organized events.
Human rights groups have warned that the male guardianship system, considered the most oppressive part of gender relations in Saudi Arabia, remains in place, severely limiting women regardless of other reforms.
The BBC said that Egyptian viewers were surprised by the video scandal. TV presenter Osama Gawish, for example, said that he was not sure what to do with the arrest. "Do not [Saudi Crown Prince] Mohammed bin Salman wants a new open Saudi Arabia with concerts and movie theaters and beaches and a vision for 2030?
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