Mick Hartley

"My case is the same as that of 10 young women flogged that day, as well as of dozens, hundreds, and maybe thousands others flogged in the public order courts because of their dress, day after day, month after month, and year after year. They emerge from there dejected, because society does not believe them – indeed, it will never believe that a girl can be flogged only because of the way she dresses. 

"The result [of this punishment] is [society's] death sentence against the girl's family; for her parents it means an attack of diabetes, hypertension, or heart failure. [Just think of] the girl's emotional state, and the disgrace that will follow her for the rest of her life – and all because [she wore] trousers. The number [of victims] will keep growing, because society refuses to believe that a girl or woman can be flogged because of what she wears."

"This is why I have printed 500 invitations [to the court hearing of my case]. I want everyone to be present – my sympathizers, friends, and family, as well as those who exult in my misfortune. It is an open invitation to the public. I haven't described the incident [that led to my arrest] in detail, since [I want] people to hear with their own ears and see with their own eyes the charges as well as the prosecution witnesses, rather than only my side of the story." […]

"The problem lies in Clause 152 of the criminal law, which sentences [women] to 40 lashes or a fine, or both, for improper dress, without stipulating what exactly that is. 

"Moreover, the title of this clause, "Disgraceful Behavior," [deserves special mention]. Try to imagine what comes to mind when you hear that a woman has been flogged for disgraceful behavior at the facilities of the public order apparatuses. It is to this that I wanted the public to be a witness. 

"Let them hear the charges and the prosecution witnesses. As for me, I will say nothing to the court except 'Yes, this is true.' Let it be known what crime I have committed."

"As is customary in prisons throughout the world, inmates are stripped of all authority and sponsorship over their own [lives]. All their movements are monitored and controlled by the jailor. The prison authorities decide their fate and see to their needs, until the day of their release. This is also the usual situation of the Saudi woman. She has no right to make decisions, and may not take a single step without the permission of her jailor, namely her guardian. But in her case the term [of imprisonment] is unlimited.

"The Saudi Mahram Law [whereby related males are deemed to be guardians] turns the women into prisoners from the day they are born until the day they die. They cannot leave their cells, namely their homes, or the larger prison, namely the state, without signed permission… Although Saudi women are deprived of freedom and dignity more than any other women [in the world], they suffer all these forms of oppression and injustice in bitter silence, [and with an air of] suppressed anger and death-like dejection. Saudi women are peaceful in the full sense of the word, but so far the Saudi state has not appreciated their [noble] souls, their patience, and their quiet resistance…"

"The clerics, whom the state has authorized to oppress the women, regard their silence and patience as [a sign of] mental backwardness and emotional weakness… Thus they have [allowed themselves] to increase the 'slumber' of oppression over the decades… They suffocate [the women] in all areas of life by means of oppressive laws [enforced by] the religious police, who follow them everywhere as if they were fugitives from justice. The laws pertaining to women have turned them into objects on which sick men can release their violent and sexual [urges].
"These Saudi clerics deny the Saudi women every opportunity to find a job, get an education, travel, receive medical treatment, or [realize] any [other] right, no matter how trivial, without the permission of their jailor, that is, their guardian – [all] based on oppressive fatwas sanctioned by the male [leaders] of the state."