Women councilors get death threats over mixed meeting

JEDDAH: Two women members of the Jeddah municipal council have received death threats on their phones because they insisted on sitting at the same table with men at a council meeting.
Lama Al-Suleiman and Rasha Hefzi had on Jan. 6 refused to sit behind an opaque glass partition and wanted to join the male councilors at a conference table. Some of the men had objected and they then sat at the back of the meeting room.
Council sources were quoted as saying that people making these threats are extremists and should not be tolerated. The women members have every right to attend meetings as equals with the men, they were quoted as saying by a local publication on Tuesday.
Ehab Al-Suleiman, a legal adviser, said the country’s security agencies have the ability to track down these individuals. They should be arrested and prosecuted for these threats.
He said there was no law barring women from sitting at the same table with men at council meetings. This was improper and unreasonable and a violation of their rights. Those men objecting to this should resign from their positions for violating the country’s royal decrees, he said.
Meanwhile, several women have launched a campaign to raise awareness about the right of women to participate in council meetings. They criticized other councilors for not voicing their opposition to what had happened to these two women.