This Saudi justice minister made some statements about women driving while testifying at a hearing of the European Parliament in Brussels. A link to the story is here, and the story is pasted in below. He says that if Saudi women really wanted to drive, no one would stop them.
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(ANSAmed) - BRUSSELS, APRIL 23 - Saudi Arabian Justice
Minister Mohammed al-Isa defended the kingdom's human rights
record at a hearing on Tuesday before the European Parliament's
foreign affairs commission.
''We respect freedom of opinion and human rights, so long as
they don't infringe on public order and the rights of others'',
the minister explained.
Other faiths are banned from building churches and temples
in Saudi Arabia because it is ''a land sacred to Islam. Other
uses would be unacceptable. It would be like building a mosque
in the Vatican: it's a question of principle'', the minister
said. ''But this does not mean people aren't allowed to profess
other religions''.
The minister went on to explain why Saudi women don't drive.
''There are no laws or religious texts banning Saudi Arabian
women from driving, but they abstain because they have no desire
to do so. This is a model based on our social culture. It is up
to them to accept or refuse. If the majority of women were to
decide they want to drive, no one would stop them'', the
minister alleged. (ANSAmed).
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