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Support Saudi women in their ‘women2drive’ campaign today

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Julie Tomlin
WVoN co-editor

Women in Saudi Arabia are expected to risk arrest today by getting behind the wheel in defiance of rules banning them from driving.

A Facebook campaign called Women2Drive is encouraging women to take to the streets from today and to continue to drive as part of their normal activity “until a royal decree allowing women to drive is issued” in the Saudi kingdom.

Another Facebook page, honk for saudi women has been set up encouraging women to show support for the campaign, which began after the arrest of Manal Al Sharif in the city of al-Khobar last month.

Al Sharif, a 32-year-old computer security consultant, was imprisoned for 10 days after she posted a video of herself driving on Youtube. She was released after signing a pledge saying she would not drive again (see WVoN story).

Another woman Najla al-Hariri had been arrested a few days before when she posted a video of herself driving in the western region of Jeddah, but it was the arrest of Al Sharif that attracted widespread support: 3,345 people petitioned King Abdullah to intervene on her behalf while 24,000 called for her release on a Facebook page.

Manal Al Sharif has since withdrawn from the campaign (see WVoN story) but it appears the authorities have failed to deter other women by making an example of her.

Six women were detained last week after being caught learning to drive and many more who have international drivers’  licences are expected to risk the same fate from today.

While calls for widespread protests in the wake of uprisings across the Middle East have so far gone unheeded in Saudi Arabia, “it seems that women, who are the main victims of suppression, will carry the banner of change in the Saudi society” columnist and novelist Badriya al-Bishr has said.

Women in Saudi Arabia face a number of restrictions, including being unable to register as voters, and being required to have a male guardian.

While the demand to drive has attracted opposition, including a Facebook page threatening violence against those who take part, many women support the demand to drive for safety reasons (see WVoN story) as well as the difficulties it creates for women who cannot afford a driver.

Demands for a lifting of the ban have failed in recent years. Protests in 1990 led to a tightening of restrictions and severe punishments for the 47 women who took part..

Another activist, Wajiha Huwaidar challenged the ban in 2008, posting a video of her driving on International Women’s Day in which she appealed “to our interior minister, his Highness Prince Nayef bin Abdel Aziz, to permit us to drive”.

Wajeha and 125 other women signed a petition asking the Saudi interior minister to lift restrictions on women driving. King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz said in an  interview with Barbara Walters in the same year that ‘women will drive one day’ but there has been no progress since then.

Participants have been asked to display posters of King Abdullah, raise the Saudi flag in a series of instructions posted on the Facebook page that include a request that women wear the veil.

The organisers claim that they are not encouraging a mass protest but are instead asking women to act individually.

Yet it is the widespread support aided by use of Youtube, Facebook and Twitter that may determine if women’s demands to be allowed to drive will finally be heeded.

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