Vogue attacked for Saudi princess driving cover

Princess Hayfa bint Abdullah Al Saud appears on the cover.

Vogue magazine has been criticised for publishing a front cover featuring a Saudi Arabian princess at the wheel of a car, while activists who campaigned for an end to a ban on women driving in the kingdom are held in jail.

The Vogue Arabia June issue shows Princess Hayfa bint Abdullah Al Saud, the daughter of the late king, dressed glamorously in the front seat of an open-top car with the headline "Driving Force: celebrating the trailblazing women of Saudi Arabia".

The cover is meant to mark the end of a ban on women driving on June 24, but follows sweeping arrests of women rights activists in the ultra-conservative country.

"A Saudi princess is on the cover of Vogue Arabia to celebrate women finally being allowed to drive," wrote one social media user. "Yet, her family is currently jailing the pioneering women that actually fought for that right."

One Saudi activist living abroad described the cover as "tone deaf".

The face of Princess Hayfa was photoshopped with those of arrested activists Loujain al-Hathloul, Aziza al-Yousef and Eman al-Nafjan, who have campaigned for women's right to drive and to end Saudi's male guardianship system. Three of the 11 detained have since been released. However, the fate of the other eight, including Hathloul, Yousef and Nafjan, is unclear as they have not been able to contact their families.

One activist who served a week in prison told the Daily Telegraph that she was "in good spirits" and was planning to stay in Saudi Arabia.

The crackdown, weeks before a much-hyped lifting of the driving ban, has revived doubts about the young Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman's approach to reforms in the kingdom.