Source: News24

http://www.news24.com/News24/Africa/News/0,,2-11-1447_1504493,00.html

On March 27, 2004 News24 reported, "At least 17 women have been arrested in southern Somalia's Middle Shabbelle region for ignoring a decree banning women from wearing veils, a spokesperson for the the area's administration said on Saturday...Independent sources in Jowhar, 90km north of the capital Mogadishu, confirmed the arrests. [Mohamed Omar] Habeb banned the Islamic veils on Thursday in a bid to foil male would-be attackers who could be disguised as women. He has also banned vehicles with tinted windows from operating in his fiefdom, his spokesperson said."