The
recent verdict could completely upset all laws currently enforced in
Saudi Arabia believes Jillian Birch, spokeswoman at Amnesty
International.
“This
verdict shows the incredible progress the women’s rights movement has
made in the past 50 years,” she admitted in a press conference this
morning. “Finally, women will no longer be simply considered as objects
without souls, but as full-fledged mammals, with the same rights as
other animals of their species such as camels and goats,” she said,
visibly emotional. “Women are still far from being considered 100%
human, but their condition will improve drastically with this decision,”
she firmly believes.
An unprecedented verdict
The
verdict, which fell like a ton of bricks on the Saudi state, has
clearly not found unanimous support amongst religious authorities and
the political elite, concede experts.
“It
could create significant turmoil in the current legal state of affairs
and the judiciary system of Saudi Arabia,” says political analyst
specialized in the Middle East, Anthony Bochstein. “If before women had
the same rights as a chair or a table and were seen more as individual
property, they now have an equivalent status to certain animal species,
and thus must receive, at the very least, feeding, watering and be
conferred a minimum of attention and respect, which was not the case
previously,” he explains.