Following yesterday's story about the Saudi "morality queen" contest – won by Zainab al-Khatam, who dutifully stays at home "taking care of her family" – here's the other side of the coin.

Twenty-nine-year-old Samar Badawi has just been released after spending seven months in jail for "disobeying" her father.

Ms Badawi, who is divorced with one son, fled to a women's shelter in 2008 complaining of abuse by her father. She left the shelter last year after her father then started legal proceedings against her. Arab News has more details. The paper explains:

Under Saudi law a woman who has no guardian or who is in dispute against her guardian becomes a ward of the state who can face imprisonment for refusing to stay in authorised women's shelters.

Posted by Brian Whitaker, 28 October 2010.