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Women in Saudi Arabia sue for right to drive

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Katie McQuater
WVoN co-editor 

A court in Saudi Arabia has agreed to hear a complaint by a female activist against the de facto ban in the kingdom on women drivers.

Manal al-Sharif, a 32-year-old computer consultant and founder of the Women2Drive movement, announced on Sunday that she is pursuing the case.

Sharif was jailed by a Saudi court for more than a week in May last year after she posted a video of herself driving on YouTube (see WVoN story).

On the day of her arrest, she unsuccessfully filed an application for a driving licence and in November, started a lawsuit challenging that refusal.

According to Sharif’s lawyer, AbdulRahman Allahim, the case will be heard in the Board of Grievances, a court that hears citizen complaints against the government. Prosecution of women drivers is typically handled in religious courts.

Despite the historic decision by King Abdullah in September 2011 to allow women the right to vote and run in future municipal elections, male guardian laws under the country’s conservative Wahhabi interpretation of Islam remain largely unchanged.

The laws not only restrict women’s freedom of movement and expression but are detrimental to their health and wellbeing, says female Saudi activist Wajeha al-Hawidar:

“These laws make the woman like a child in all aspects of her life. She is not dealt with as an adult with a fully developed brain.”

The right to drive issue received further international attention when a report produced for the Shura Council, the country’s legislative assembly, claimed allowing women to drive would spell the ‘end of virginity’ among unmarried women.

Though there is no formal written ban on driving, women are routinely denied driver’s licenses and currently risk being fined, jailed or lashed for breaking the ban. Despite this,women have been taking to the roads in small numbers to test enforcement.

In a possible shift that could improve the chances of women demanding the right to drive, a local newspaper has been reported over the weekend as saying that Saudi Arabian authorities would create a new commission to handle social issues, including women driving.

While the report hasn’t been confirmed by the government, the suggestion that cases of women driving might be moved out of religious courts where they would usually be dealt with, has sparked new interest.

Riyadh academic and blogger Eman al Nafjan suggested that the proposal may have been prompted by embarrassment over the international coverage of the driving issue.

Speaking on the need to make progress on the longstanding issue of the right to drive, Manal al-Sharif said:

“It’s 22 years now. We have to just finish it.

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