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A female Saudi TV presenter claims she was sacked on her first day in the job because she not deemed pretty enough.

The woman says she reported for work at the station office, but was told by her boss she could not appear on TV.

She is suing the company for discrimination and breach of contract.

The presenter, who has not been identified, claims she was offered a contract by an Arab satellite channel in the Saudi capital of Riyadh.However, she was shocked to hear that her boss allegedly did not think she was beautiful enough to appear on TV when she arrived for her first day.

This, she alleges, was a breach of contract because it did not stipulate a three-month probation period with a right for immediate dismissal.

She also claims the director verbally abused her, it was reported by Gulf News, which cited an article in local daily Makkah.

A court in Riyadh was due to examine the case.

Last month, it was reported that female television presenters in Saudi Arabia are being ordered to cover up by wearing the traditional black abaya cloak. 

Noora Al Adwan, a female member of the Shura Council, had demanded that a dress code be brought in for all Saudi women working in private television stations funded by Saudi Arabia. She claimed the country's female presenters were bringing the country's international reputation into disrepute by refusing to wear the national dress and exaggerating their makeup.

She proposed fines of up to SR10 million (£1.7m) for those who break the dress code.

Her remarks sparked anger among Saudi TV presenters who claimed they were not only untrue, abut also an intrusion in their personal lives.

Although the proposal was initially endorsed it was later withdrawn on the grounds it failed to give a clear definition of the national dress. 

In August last year a female presenter sparked fury after broadcasting from the London studio of Al Ekhbariya without so much as a veil on her head.

It prompted a string of news stories on Saudi websites and reactions on Twitter with one user, @HoNABIL, branding the channel 'Zionist enemies of religion'.

Women often appear on Saudi TV without wearing headscarves or veils, but the appearance was thought by many to be the first by a newsreader on a government-owned station.