Saudi lady could face stoning to death for breaching sharia by attending football match.

SAUDI Arabian authorities have arrested a woman who sneaked into a football stadium disguised as a man and watched a match in contravention of the kingdom's strict sharia laws which prohibit females from attending sporting events.

In what is a serious defiance of the kingdom's segregation policy which forbids men and women who converging in the same venue, the woman sat in what was considered a male environment. She managed to sneak into a Friday fixture of the Abdul Latif Jameel Saudi professional league at Al-Jawhara stadium in the Red Sea city of Jeddah.

Police spokesman Atti al-Qurashi said: "She wore men’s clothes and deliberately covered her head so as not to be detected by security and not to draw attention. Her presence was against the regulations, so we need to comply with the instructions and regulations issued by the official authorities with regard to this matter."

A video posted on YouTube purported to show her sitting by herself among some empty seats in a section reserved for fans of the visiting Al-Shabab club from the capital Riyadh. A man nearby appears to be looking intently at the woman who sported glasses and black attire and she seemed to be wearing a large hat with a scarf in Al-Shabab’s black and white colours.

Mr Qurashi did not elaborate on whether she would face any charges but said her case has been forwarded to the specialised authorities. In Saudi Arabia, serious breaches of sharia law can be met with the death penalty but it is not yet clear if this will be the case here.

Saudi women, required to cover from head to toe when outside the home, still need permission from a male guardian to work and marry. Restaurants are also divided into family sections and separate areas for single men. Furthermore, Saudi Arabia is also the world’s only country which does not allow women to drive and those who challenge the ban risk arrest.

The ultra-conservative Salafist tradition of Islam is predominant in the kingdom, where it applies to both religious and political life.See more