'Burn Your Sisters': Saudi Man Wants to Punish Fully-Covered Women Going Out For Coffee

A video of a man in Saudi accusing fully-covered women of being "immoral" for going out to buy coffee near Najran University has gone viral. He is heard in the clip condemning them for merely leaving their homes. He also called on their fathers and brothers to "burn them if they don't abide by the rules and stay at home."

Translation: "May God curse you and everyone who behaves and thinks like you. You're talking about morals and honor using outrageous words. He's filming fully covered women who are ordering coffee while fully covered, yet making the most hideous assumptions. Only us going back to the era where women were buried alive would make him happy. I hope he gets locked up soon."

Many took to social media to express their shock, calling on officials to hold him accountable for making baseless accusations against the women in the video and for his threatening statements.

Using the hashtag #قاذف_بنات_نجران (Najran's women accuser), people said they were worried that videos like this and verbal attacks might threaten women's safety while they are heading to their schools or workplaces, demanding serious action be taken to end this kind of behavior.

Translation: "I hope they reveal his identity so he feels the shame. He should also be forced to apologize to all university female students using a microphone and huge speakers, and then receive severe punishment."

In the video, the man blamed men for allowing their daughters and sisters to leave their houses, saying that if women refuse to stay at home, "they should be burned" because they are violating their families' so-called honor.

His remarks were linked with terrorist ideologies that regard men as guardians with authority over what women are allowed or not allowed to do.

Translation: "No words can describe how awful this terrorist is. This behavior can only be described as terrorism because he's threatening to kill and burn women for religious and traditional considerations. The main question here is: where did he learn these stinky ideas? It's probably the outdated discourse people like him spread online."

Translation: "Really?? The most simple routine practices all other humans do are considered corrupt acts only when women here do it? Too much..."

Fearing for the safety of women in his family and neighborhood, some online users called on authorities to check on women in his household to make sure he isn't causing them any harm.

Translation: "Someone should check on women in his household, his female neighbors and relatives. There might be oppressed women in the environment where this criminal lives."

Many comments pointed out that Najran's society is pretty conservative, but even by those standards, many found the man's ideology toward women shocking and repressive.

This also comes at a time when Saudi Arabia has been attempting to introduce unprecedented reforms for women and social standards.