Saudi woman driver said to have been released

Summary of story from NYTimes, May 30, 2011

A Saudi woman detained for challenging the kingdom’s ultraconservative ban on female drivers was said to have been released on Monday after mounting international pressure demanding her freedom (see WVoN story).

Manal al-Sherif, 32, became the focus of an internet campaign that also highlighted plans for a mass driving protest on June 17 to question the ban.

Waleed Aboul Khair, a Saudi activist, credited her release to “pressure from inside and outside” Saudi Arabia.

Al-Sherif had been incarcerated since May 21 after posting an internet video of her driving as part of the efforts for next month’s protest.  She was originally ordered to remain in custody until at least early June.

The authorities have not divulged the reason for the early release, Aboul Khair said that al-Sherif had signed an agreement not to attempt to drive again or speak to reporters.

Aboul Khair is nevertheless planning to press ahead with a petition asking Saudi authorities to lift the ban on female drivers – the only one of its kind in the world.

King Abdullah has promised some measure of social reform, but as he depends on the clerics to support his ruling family, he is unlikely to take steps that would anger the religious establishment.

“Teach me how to drive so I can protect myself”, al-Sherif’s Facebook page, has been removed after it attracted over 12,000 supporters.

The campaign’s Twitter account has since been blocked as well, however hundreds of other sites have been created in support of al-Sherif and the protest call.