Saudi Arabia: Student kicked off bus for removing veil

A female Saudi student was kicked off a bus by a male supervisor for unveiling her face in public, Al-Hayat reported.

In a video of the incident posted on YouTube, the supervisor can be heard telling the bus driver to stop, and orders the students of Princess Nourah Bint Abdulrahman University for Women to reveal the identity of the student who removed her veil.

When none volunteer the information, he orders the driver to turn off the air conditioning until they comply. Some of the students argue that the veil is not mandatory in Islam, but the supervisor threatens to report them to authorities at the Ministry of Education, and claims they will be expelled.

One student told the newspaper that she regularly took off her veil inside the bus, as the windows were tinted and passengers could not be seen from the outside.

"My three friends and I always unveil our faces inside the bus. We even sit at the very back so even the driver can't see us," she said.

"The supervisor spotted one of us without her face veil and went ballistic, yelling it is against the university's regulations."

The supervisor then ordered four students off the bus.

"Everyone was shocked about what happened and I rode another bus and asked him to drop me somewhere near my home. I then asked my mother to come and pick me up with a taxi," one of those ordered to leave the bus told the newspaper.

Under Saudi Arabia's strict interpretation of Sharia law, all women must be accompanied in public by a male guardian, and in some regions must wear a niqab veil covering the face.

It is one of two Muslim majority countries, Iran being the other, which compels women to wear a loose abaya cloak and a hijab covering the hair.

In August, a female newsreader appeared on state owned television for the first time without a headscarf.

In a 2014 survey, two thirds of Saudis said that women ought to wear a hijab, while half said that women should be free to choose what they wear.