Saudi Arabia Considers Lifting Ban on Women Drivers

THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: Saudi Arabia king's advisory council recommends women over 30, wearing no make-up, should be allowed to drive between 7am and 8pm most days

Saudi Arabia is considering proposals to allow women to drive, a member of the king's advisory council has said.

The recommendations from the Shura Council to change the law would apply only to women over 30, who must be off the road by 8pm and cannot wear make-up while driving.

Nevertheless, such a move would represent a major victory for activists after years of the absolute monarchy rejecting any review of the ban – and punishing women caught driving.

Earlier this year, a woman reportedly received 150 lashes for being caught driving.

The kingdom is the only country in the world that forbids women from driving, with Muslim clerics claiming "licentiousness" will spread if women drive. » | Barney Henderson and AP | Saturday, November 08, 2014

Saudi Woman Talks About Driving Ban

Hala Al Dosari, an activist and driving campaign supporter, says the fight against the ban is not over.

Saudi Satirist's 'No Woman, No Drive' Goes Viral

Saudi comedian Hisham Fageeh's version of the Bob Marley classic No woman, no cry, protesting the ban on women driving in the kingdom has become a viral sensation

Read the Telegraph commentary here | Monday, October 28, 2013

Saudi Activists Cancel Women 'Drive-in' Plan

AL JAZEERA: A planned driving campaign has been cancelled after the government threatened legal action against the women involved.

Activists pressing to end Saudi Arabia's ban on women driving have dropped plans for a "drive-in" on Saturday after threats of legal action and have opted instead for an open-ended campaign.

"Out of caution and respect for the interior ministry's warnings ... we are asking women not to drive tomorrow and to change the initiative from an October 26 campaign to an open driving campaign," activist Najla al-Hariri told AFP news agency on Friday.

Several women said they had received telephone calls from the ministry, which openly warned on Thursday of measures against activists who chose to participate and asked them to promise not to drive on Saturday. » | Source: Agencies | Saturday, October 26, 2013

Dozens of Saudi Arabian Women Drive Cars on Day of Protest against Ban

THE GUARDIAN: Activists say at least 60 joined call to allow female drivers – making it country's biggest ever demonstration against the ban


More than 60 Saudi women got behind the wheels of their cars as part of a protest against a ban on women driving in the kingdom, activists have claimed.

A Saudi professor and campaigner, Aziza Youssef, said the activists have received 13 videos and another 50 phone messages from women showing or claiming they had driven, the Associated Press reported.

She said it had not been not possible to verify all of the messages. But, if the numbers are accurate, they would make Saturday's demonstration the biggest the country has ever seen against the ban.

Despite warnings by police and ultraconservatives in Saudi Arabia, there have been no reports from those who claimed to have driven of being arrested or ticketed by police. » | Staff and agencies | Saturday, October 26, 2013

Saudi Women Filmed Defying Driving Ban in October 26 Protest

Activists have begun posting videos of women in Saudi Arabia driving cars, as their one-day campaign to defy a ban on female drivers in the conservative kingdom gets under way.

Saudi Arabia's Women Plan Day of Action to Change Driving Laws

THE GUARDIAN: Government warily observes public reaction as media joins calls for ban on female drivers to be rescinded

Saudi women are gearing up for a day of action to challenge the kingdom's ban on female driving, amid signs of slowly growing readiness by the authorities to consider reform in the face ofstrong opposition by the clerical establishment.

Twitter, Facebook and other social media have been used to get women drivers on the roads on Saturday in a marathon push against this unique restriction.

Activists say they have 16,600 signatures on an online petition calling for change. Efforts to publicise the issue by the "October 26 driving for women" group have been described as the best-organised social campaign ever seen in Saudi Arabia, where Twitter has millions of users and is used to circulate information about the monarchy and official corruption.

Now the mainstream press is getting involved too, a telling indication of a thaw on this issue. "It's time to end this absurd debate about women driving," wrote Dr Thuraya al-Arid in al-Jazirah newspaper. In another paper, al-Sharq al-Awsat, Mshari Al-Zaydi said: "The time has come to turn the page on the past and discuss this issue openly." Read on and comment » | Ian Black, Middle East editor | Friday, October 25, 2013

My comment:

I'm all for Saudi women having the right to drive; in fact, it is an outrage that they cannot already. But one word of caution: Saudi men, starved as they are of female contact, can be lecherous when they come into contact with women. So I have this to ask: If Saudi women were to be allowed to drive, how safe would they be driving alone on the roads of Saudi Arabia? Many will surely become targets of starved men. – © Mark

Saudi Arabia Warns It Will Use Force If Campaigners Protest Against Female Driving Ban

THE INDEPENDENT: Saudi Arabia's government has warned it will use force if campaigners take to the streets protest against the country's ban on women driving.

Saudi women's rights activists posted online photographs and video clips of themselves defying the ban this month after some members of the Shoura Council, an influential body that advises the government, called for an end to the prohibition.

Saudi Arabia is the only country in the world where women are barred from driving, but debate about the ban, once confined to the private sphere and social media, is spreading to public forums too.

The Saudi Interior Ministry said calls on social media for “banned gatherings and marches” to encourage women to drive were illegal. » | John Hall | Wednesday, October 23, 2013

Arabie: le roi annule la condamnation d’une Saoudienne qui a pris le volant
TRIBUNE DE GENÈVE: Le roi Abdallah a annulé la condamnation d’une Saoudienne à dix coups de fouet pour avoir bravé l’interdiction faite aux femmes de conduire dans le royaume ultra-conservateur saoudien, a indiqué mercredi une princesse saoudienne.

Le roi Abdallah a annulé la condamnation d’une Saoudienne à dix coups de fouet pour avoir bravé l’interdiction faite aux femmes de conduire dans le royaume ultraconservateur saoudien, a indiqué mercredi une princesse saoudienne.

"Dieu merci, la flagellation de Sheima a été annulée. Merci à notre roi bien-aimé. Je suis sûre que toutes les femmes saoudiennes seront heureuses, je sais que je le suis", a annoncé sur Twitter la princesse Amira Tawil, épouse d’un neveu du roi et richissime homme d’affaires Walid ben Talal.
L’annulation de la condamnation a été confirmée par une source informée à Ryad. » | AFP | Mercredi 28 Septembre 2011

Related »

THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: Saudi king saves woman driver from 10 lashes: Saudi King Abdullah has overturned a court verdict that sentenced a Saudi woman to be lashed 10 times for defying the kingdom's ban on women driving. » | Thursday, September 29, 2011

Saudi Woman to Be Lashed for Driving Car
THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: A Saudi woman has been sentenced to to 10 lashes for challenging a ban on women driving.

Amnesty International reported the sentence just two days after Saudi King Abdullah granted women the right to vote and run in municipal elections.

"Flogging is a cruel punishment in all circumstances but it beggars belief that the authorities in Saudi Arabia have imposed lashes on a woman apparently for merely driving a car", Philip Luther, an Amnesty regional deputy director, said in an emailed statement.

"Allowing women to vote in council elections is all well and good, but if they are still going to face being flogged for trying to exercise their right to freedom of movement, then the king's much trumpeted 'reforms' actually amount to very little," Mr Luther said. » | Wednesday, September 28, 2011

Five Saudi Women Arrested for Driving

THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: Five Saudi women have been arrested in the first government response to an organised campaign by women to drive in defiance of long-standing rules in the country.

Campaigners said that four women were arrested by religious police in a single car being driven by one of them in the Red Sea city of Jeddah on Tuesday morning.

Later in the day, four regular police cars also in Jeddah surrounded a vehicle being driven by another woman, in which a man, either her husband or brother, was riding as a passenger. Both were arrested and taken into custody.

On Wednesday night, the authorities had released no news about the arrests or said what would happen to the women. Manal al-Sharif, the computer security expert whose arrest for driving triggered the campaign last month, spent several days in custody before being released after signing a pledge not to repeat the offence.

The dispute about women driving has become symbolic for the demands of many women, particularly in the professional classes, for less restrictive rules on their public lives.

Two Fridays ago, a group of women launched a Facebook campaign for a lifting of the ban on women driving by taking to the wheel. Those who took part all have international licences. » | Richard Spencer, Middle East Correspondent | Wednesday, June 29, 2011

The Progressive West v. the Backward Middle East
Today, it has been confirmed that Liechtenstein has said yes to gay marriage. This week, in Saudi Arabia women protested in order to be allowed to drive cars!

Very little more needs to be said about the state of development of the Muslim world and the Western world. In Liechtenstein, among many other countries, homosexuals are gaining rights to form lasting unions, with full rights before the law, whilst in a Muslim country such as Saudi Arabia women are still struggling for the right to drive a vehicle! If anything contrasts better the backwardness of the Middle East with the progressiveness of the West, I’d like to hear about it.

© Mark Alexander

All Rights Reserved

Women Driven to Confusion in Saudi Arabia

THE GUARDIAN: The current situation of gender discrimination against who can and cannot drive is unsustainable

On 11 March, when Saudi protesters' "day of rage" did not materialise, Fouad al-Farhan, a human rights activist, tweeted:

"My fear is that the ceiling of our reformist demands will be lowered to women driving for some and combating westernisation for others."

Two months later, his fears became a reality. A campaign to allow women to drive in Saudi Arabia was started on Facebook. Currently this issue has overtaken all others online, in the press and on the ground.

The movement particularly caught fire when a face for it emerged. A Saudi woman, Manal al-Sharif, came forward and posted a Youtube video advising how to go about the campaign. The plan was that starting from 17 June, Saudi women with international driving licences would begin driving their own cars rather than letting a male driver do it for them.

So far approximately 45 women have driven cars all across the kingdom in connection with the campaign and many of them have posted videos of their excursions online.

That there are women in Saudi who are distressed at the ban on their driving is well known. On the other hand the religious establishment has also been staunch in its demand to maintain the ban. Some of them have even gone so far as to call the campaign western-backed "female terrorism" and "soft terrorism". Others claimed that the campaign to allow women to drive is an Iranian/Shia conspiracy to destabilise the country. » | Eman Al Nafjan | Saturday, June 18, 2011

Saudiarabische Frauen setzen sich ans Steuer und twittern
Frauen in Saudi-Arabien dürfen nicht Auto fahren. Mehrere Aktivistinnen haben sich deshalb heute hinter das Steuer gesetzt und protestieren gegen das Verbot. Auf sozialen Netzwerken wie «Twitter» berichten sie von ihren Ausfahrten.

Den Artikel hier lesen

Saudi Women Driving for Change
Thousands of women activists in Saudi Arabia planned to start driving on Friday in defiance of a longstanding ban that prohibits women from even getting a drivers license.

The protest action comes after a campaign launched on social media began calling for women's right to drive in the Kingdom.

Al Jazeera's Nick Toksvig reports.


FOX NEWS: Saudi Women Hit the Road in Driving Ban Protest: RIYADH, Saudi Arabia – A number of Saudi women drove cars Friday in response to calls for nationwide action to break a traditional ban unique to the ultra-conservative kingdom. » | Friday, June 17, 2011

Saudi Arabia: Shoura Ready to Discuss Women Driving If Requested

ARAB NEWS: JEDDAH: Speaker of the Shoura Council Abdullah Al-Asheikh said on Thursday the council was ready to discuss the issue of women driving if it was asked to.

“The issue has not so far been tabled with the council for discussion,” he said, adding that not every issue in the public domain was discussed by the council.

Explaining the mechanism of tabling issues for discussion at the council, Al-Asheikh said a motion must either come from the government, at least one member of the council or when the council itself expressed a desire to deliberate a certain issue, reported local Arabic daily Al-Jazirah.

Saudi writer and columnist Abdullah Abdul Sattar Al-Alami said he and a group of other people formally asked the council to discuss the issue of women driving.

“We sent our request in a letter sent by express mail on Feb. 8, 2011,” he said in a statement to Arab News Thursday.

Al-Alami said the request was signed by a large number of academics, literary figures, media professionals, businessmen and women, housewives, students, government employees, a former ambassador, a former undersecretary to the UN secretary-general, a deputy CEO of a big company in the Eastern Province and a prominent member of the National Society for Human Rights. » | ARAB NEWS | Friday, June 03, 2011

Saudi Woman Driver Freed after Agreeing to Quit Campaign
THE GUARDIAN: Manal al-Sharif, jailed after posting a YouTube video of herself driving, leaves Women2Drive movement

A Saudi Arabian woman who was jailed for driving a car has been released after nine days, having pledged to take no further part in a campaign to persuade the Saudi authorities to allow women to drive.

Manal al-Sharif, 32, was freed from the women's prison in Dammam on Monday. She was arrested after posting a video of herself driving around the eastern city of Khobar as part of the Women2Drive campaign of which she was a key organiser.

Her case attracted international attention after her lawyer said she had been charged with driving without a licence, prompting other women to do the same and provoking public debate in Saudi Arabia. Two other women associated with the campaign were also questioned by police and warned off further campaigning. One Muslim cleric even called for Sharif to be lashed.

"She wrote a pledge that she will not drive a car and after what has happened she has decided to give up the campaign and not be part of the protests," said Sharif's lawyer, Adnan al-Salah.

He said the authorities had not imposed the conditions, but Sharif had decided to make the pledge herself.

The climax of the Women2Drive campaign, a mass drive on 17 June partly inspired by demonstrations against restrictions on civil liberties across the Middle East, now appears to be in doubt.

On Tuesday, Sharif expressed "profound gratitude" to King Abdullah for ordering her release and appeared to abandon her call for women to be allowed to drive, according to a written statement published by the al-Hayat newspaper. » | Robert Booth | Tuesday, May 31, 2011


Saudi Arabia’s ‘Women2Drive’ Movement Reacts to Arrest »

FACEBOOK: Women2Drive »

TWITTER: @Women2Drive »

Related »

Al-Sharif Seeks Pardon: Reports
ARAB NEWS: DAMMAM/JEDDAH: Detained motorist Manal Al-Sharif has reportedly written a letter of appeal to Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah seeking her release.

The story was being widely discussed on websites and online editions of some Arabic newspapers on Sunday, but there was no official confirmation that she has written to the king. Repeated attempts by Arab News to get in touch with her lawyer, Adnan Al-Saleh, were unsuccessful.

A Jeddah-datelined AFP story quoted the lawyer as saying: “Al-Sharif hopes that the king will order her release and close her file.” Al-Sharif was arrested on May 21 while driving in Alkhobar, a day after she posted footage on the video-sharing website YouTube showing her behind the wheel.

Her father, Masoud Al-Sharif, initially spoke to the media after her arrest but has since declined to speak to any member of the media. “He is very upset at being misquoted and misrepresented in news reports,” a source told Arab News. “The father was particularly upset at the media for publishing baseless reports such as that of her breaking down in the women’s prison in Dammam.”

The other reason for the father not to speak to the media, according to the source, is to avoid unnecessary controversies.

“Some sections of the media have indeed tried to sensationalize the whole story without realizing the adverse impact it has on her case,” the source said.

Al-Sharif's father called on Eastern Province Gov. Prince Muhammad bin Fahd last week and explained his daughter's situation and change of heart.

“She has committed a mistake and has now realized her mistake and has since withdrawn from the so-called June 17 campaign through a social media website that incited women to take the wheel,” he was quoted as saying in the local Arabic media.

Ghazi Al-Shammari, a local official who met Manal Al-Sharif last week, also said that she feels remorseful.

“I made a mistake, and I’m a daughter of this nation. I have nobody but my family and the sons and daughters of my nation. I advise girls of my generation to rally behind our leadership and the Ulema. They know better than us about our condition. I’m confident about what I’m saying after sitting alone and contemplating,” Al-Shammari quoted Al-Sharif as saying in one Arabic newspaper. » | Siraj Wahab & Muhammad Humaidan | ARAB NEWS | Published: Sunday, May 29, 2011; Updated: Monday, May 30, 2011

Saudi Women in the Driver’s Seat

YouTube Saudi Woman Driver Faces Further 10-day Jail Term
THE GUARDIAN: Manal al-Sharif, the Saudi mother arrested for uploading a video of her driving on YouTube, faces another 10 days in jail

منال الشريف تقود سيارتها في شوارع الخبر - أنباؤكم
A Saudi Arabian woman who posted a video online of her driving her car is facing another 10 days in prison, according to reports from the kingdom.

Manal al-Sharif, a 32-year old mother who drove around the eastern city of Khobar last Saturday, had been expecting to be released on Friday after five days in jail on charges her lawyer described as driving without a licence, provoking other women to do the same and provoking public opinion in Saudi Arabia. It is disputed by lawyers whether it is illegal for women to drive under national law but it is socially and religiously unacceptable in many quarters.

"The investigator needs another 10 days to complete his investigation," said Al-Sharif's lawyer, Adnan Al Salah. "He will decide whether Manal is innocent and has to be released or he will refer her to the prosecution unit, a government organisation and they might refer her to a special prosecutor to deal with the case. I feel the fair and right thing would have been to release her on bail."

The extension of the investigation was interpreted as a show of defiance by the Saudi authorities in the face of growing domestic and international pressure to release Al-Sharif. » | Robert Booth and Mona Mahmoud | Thursday, May 26, 2011