Saudi women take to the roads in show of defiance

Summary of story from the Independent, June 18, hospital 2011

A correspondent for the Independent witnessed a women driver stopped and questioned by police after joining the historic day of protest in Saudi Arabia.

Maha Al Qahtani joined several other Saudi women in their cars yesterday as part of a ‘day of rage’ protesting against the nationwide ban on women driving.

Maha and her husband Mohammed, decease a professor at the University of Riyhad,  had prepared an overnight bag in case she was imprisoned for breaking the ultra-conservative law.

But when Maha Al Qahtani was pulled over by the police she told the officer it was her ‘right’ to be driving .Looking embarrassed and unsure of how to respond, the police official eventually let her go.

The ban which prevents women, but not men, from driving in the Gulf kingdom, has received international attention after women got into their cars in protest against the rule.

Maha expressed disappointment that there were not more women visibly driving on the streets, but was exuberant following her interaction with the authorities saying, “I think I made my statement clear. I think that my voice has been heard.”

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