Saudi Arabia could have its first Miss Universe contestant this year, organizers said this week, after a fashion model and influencer claimed she had been selected.
The Miss Universe Organization “is currently undergoing a rigorous vetting process qualifying a potential candidate to be awarded the Saudi Arabia franchise,” Maria Jose Unda, the organization’s coordinator of international relations, said in a statement to AFP.
“We’ll have a decision on the national director for Saudi Arabia very, very soon,” she said, adding that it was “possible” for Saudi Arabia to have a contestant in place before the next edition of the competition, scheduled for September in Mexico.
Photo: AFP
The statement came after Saudi model Rumy al-Qahtani created a buzz online in late last month when she posted to her hundreds of thousands of Instagram followers that she was “honored” to represent Saudi Arabia at Miss Universe at the upcoming event.
The post included pictures of al-Qahtani, a 27-year-old native of Riyadh, in a sequined dress holding the green Saudi flag inscribed with the shahada, or Islamic creed.
Less than a week later, Miss Universe issued a statement referring to al-Qahtani’s post as “false and misleading” and saying no selection process had been carried out in the Gulf kingdom.
Fielding a Miss Universe candidate, if it happens, would mark another step in Saudi Arabia’s effort to soften its ultra-conservative image as Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman, the de facto ruler, tries to attract tourists and investors.
Saudi Arabia, the world’s biggest crude oil exporter, has long been associated with the repression of women because of former rules such as a ban on driving and a requirement to wear abaya robes.
While those restrictions have been lifted, human rights activists said a personal status law that took effect in 2022 still discriminates against women when it comes to matters concerning marriage, divorce and child-rearing.
Speaking at the Riyadh home she shares with her mother and three sisters, al-Qahtani said she was in “negotiations” about participation in Miss Universe, but declined to provide further details.
“I have been contacted from the Miss Universe committee to represent Saudi Arabia. Negotiations started but it was during the month of Ramadan and I wasn’t able to respond,” she told AFP in her first interview since her Instagram post went viral last month. “We are still negotiating, and hopefully it will result in a happy ending.”
However, Unda said the procedure calls for a national director to hold a Miss Universe Saudi Arabia pageant to choose a delegate to send to Mexico.
“We ignore the reason why [al-Qahtani] announced her candidacy, but if she wants to participate in the Saudi Arabia pageant, she will have to go through the same selection process as every other candidate,” she said.
Al-Qahtani said she had previously participated in various pageants in the Middle East and Europe, and posed with several sashes she said she obtained at the competitions.
All the while she has tried to manage the potential backlash back home, including from more conservative Saudi Arabians who object to her clothing or her decision to pose on Instagram last year wrapped in the Saudi flag.
“There were some negative comments about the way I dress and when I pictured myself with the flag wearing what people considered immodest clothing,” she said.
She had no regrets, al-Qahtani added.
“Many sports supporters picture themselves with the flag the same way I did,” she said. “In beauty pageants also, each girl carries her own country’s flag, so I didn’t mean anything offensive at all.”
Fawzia Ayed, Rumy’s mother, said that she hoped her daughter would persevere despite the criticism.
“I always tell her to carry on, and that she has come a long way for a Saudi girl. Before, [society] was closed and strict,” she said.”Rumy has encouraged a lot of girls. I see that many contact her and ask her how she has reached this level, and that they would like also to participate.”
A fire caused by a burst gas pipe yesterday spread to several homes and sent a fireball soaring into the sky outside Malaysia’s largest city, injuring more than 100 people. The towering inferno near a gas station in Putra Heights outside Kuala Lumpur was visible for kilometers and lasted for several hours. It happened during a public holiday as Muslims, who are the majority in Malaysia, celebrate the second day of Eid al-Fitr. National oil company Petronas said the fire started at one of its gas pipelines at 8:10am and the affected pipeline was later isolated. Disaster management officials said shutting the
DITCH TACTICS: Kenyan officers were on their way to rescue Haitian police stuck in a ditch suspected to have been deliberately dug by Haitian gang members A Kenyan policeman deployed in Haiti has gone missing after violent gangs attacked a group of officers on a rescue mission, a UN-backed multinational security mission said in a statement yesterday. The Kenyan officers on Tuesday were on their way to rescue Haitian police stuck in a ditch “suspected to have been deliberately dug by gangs,” the statement said, adding that “specialized teams have been deployed” to search for the missing officer. Local media outlets in Haiti reported that the officer had been killed and videos of a lifeless man clothed in Kenyan uniform were shared on social media. Gang violence has left
US Vice President J.D. Vance on Friday accused Denmark of not having done enough to protect Greenland, when he visited the strategically placed and resource-rich Danish territory coveted by US President Donald Trump. Vance made his comment during a trip to the Pituffik Space Base in northwestern Greenland, a visit viewed by Copenhagen and Nuuk as a provocation. “Our message to Denmark is very simple: You have not done a good job by the people of Greenland,” Vance told a news conference. “You have under-invested in the people of Greenland, and you have under-invested in the security architecture of this
Japan unveiled a plan on Thursday to evacuate around 120,000 residents and tourists from its southern islets near Taiwan within six days in the event of an “emergency”. The plan was put together as “the security situation surrounding our nation grows severe” and with an “emergency” in mind, the government’s crisis management office said. Exactly what that emergency might be was left unspecified in the plan but it envisages the evacuation of around 120,000 people in five Japanese islets close to Taiwan. China claims Taiwan as part of its territory and has stepped up military pressure in recent years, including