Saudi governor orders haircuts for men who hit on women

[April 29, 2008]  RIYADH, Saudi Arabia (AP) -- Local media reports say a governor in northern Saudi Arabia has ordered authorities to punish men who flirt with women in public places by cutting their hair.

Several Saudi newspapers, including Al Hayat, say Prince Fahd bin Badr ordered police Sunday to carry out the punishment after seeing a group of men with long hair pestering female students as they left school in the town of Skaka.

Many clergymen in this conservative Gulf country say men should not have long hair because Islam prohibits the sexes from emulating each other.

Saudi Arabia has long enforced a strict Islamic lifestyle in which men and women are segregated in public.

Tuesday's newspaper reports identified Fahd as the governor of the northern region of al-Jof.

[Associated Press]

Copyright 2008 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.