Saudi Cleric Calls for Babies to Wear Burqas to Prevent Rape

Sheik Abdulla Daoud has called for babies to wear burqas in order to help prevent them from being raped.

Though Daoud suggested this take place in 2012, the video of him saying this has only recently surfaced. The interview took place on the Islamic al-Majd TV.

Daoud stated that, according to research he has, female children and babies have been subject to frequent sexual assaults in Saudi Arabia, his country. His idea to prevent them, however, is extremely controversial.

Instead of having men held accountable for rapes, or trying to educate the Saudi populace about the increase in these assaults, Daoud firmly blames infants for attracting Muslim men into raping them. He believes this so fervently that, to prevent these rapes in the future, the cleric is calling on female babies to wear burqas, which are Muslim head scarves.

Hiding an infant's face, he believes, will help stop these rapes because men in his country will no longer be enticed to assault them.

To put this ruling into perspective, in Saudi Arabia, men cannot be executed for murdering their wife or their children. Indeed, Daoud's statement comes not long after Fayhan al-Ghamdi received a slap on the wrist after admitting to raping, then murdering his five-year-old daughter.

Several reports, however, do agree that sexual assaults are on the rise in Saudi Arabia.