Saudi king asked to lift driving ban

The following is an AFP story about a petition urging King Abdallah to lift the women's driving ban. It now as 600 signatures. A link to the story is here, . and the text is below. In another story, the BBC reports that Manal al-Sharif wrote a letter to the Saudi ruler, asking the same thing. Link to the BBC story is here.

(AFP) – June 13, 2012

RIYADH — Hundreds of people have petitioned Saudi King Abdullah to allow women to get behind the wheel on the first anniversary of the Women2Drive campaign launched in June 2011.

The signatories, who numbered nearly 600 on Wednesday, are asking the king of the only country in the world that forbids women to drive to "encourage women who have obtained driving licences from neighbouring countries to begin driving whenever necessary."
They also called on the monarch to "establish driving schools for women and (begin) issuing licences."

The petition thanked the king, a cautious reformer, for giving women the right to vote in municipal elections set to take place in 2015, saying "our initiative is not aimed at violating laws."

"We only want to enjoy the right to drive like all women over the world," said the petition signed by Manal al-Sherif, the icon of an Internet campaign launched last year urging Saudi women to defy the driving ban.

Najla Hariri, a Saudi mother who was freed after she was briefly arrested for driving in the western city of Jeddah in August, said "the petition will be handed to the king on our campaign's anniversary on Sunday."

Sheima Jastaniah, who was pardoned by the king after being sentenced to 10 lashes for breaking the driving ban last September, has also signed the petition.

Hundreds of women have driven since the campaign was launched and many of them have been arrested and forced to sign a pledge stating they will never drive again, according to activists.

A group of defiant women got behind the wheel of their cars last June in response to calls for nationwide action to break the ban.

The campaign, which spread through Facebook and Twitter, was the largest mass action since November 1990, when 47 Saudi women were arrested and punished after demonstrating in cars.

There is no law that specifically forbids women to drive, but the minister of interior formally banned women from driving following that protest.

Women who have the financial means hire drivers while others must depend on the goodwill of male relatives to get around.

They also have to be veiled in public and may not travel unless accompanied by their husbands or a close male relative.

King Abdallah Pardons Lashing Sentence for Shaima

King Abdallah pardoned the woman driver who was recently sentenced to ten lashes for driving illegally. Her name is Shaima Ghassaniyah, but also appears with the last name Jastaina as well as Jastania. So far, I haven't seen an official confirmation of this ruling, and it hasn't shown up in the Arab News yet, which is interesting. I'm posting it as news ----- since it's all over the wires.  (Note: in our post of March 15, 2011 (Prince Khaled is For Women Driving), a woman named Shaima Jastania attended the 2011 Jeddah Economic Forum and asked the Governor of the Western (Mecca) Province, Prince Khalid bin Faisal bin Abdul Aziz, whether he agreed with the driving ban. I assume she is the same woman.

The text of the story from the Guardian is below, and a link to the story is here.

Saudi woman driver saved from lashing by King Abdullah

A Saudi woman sentenced to be lashed 10 times for defying the country's ban on female drivers has had her punishment overturned by the king.

The woman, named as Shaima Jastaina and believed to be in her 30s, was found guilty of driving without permission in Jeddah in July. Her case was the first in which a legal punishment was handed down for a violation of the ban in the ultraconservative Muslim nation.

Although there has been no official confirmation of the ruling, Princess Amira al-Taweel, wife of the Saudi Prince Alwaleed bin Talal, tweeted: "Thank God, the lashing of [Shaima] is cancelled. Thanks to our beloved king. I am sure all Saudi women will be so happy, I know I am."

She later added that she and her husband had spoken to Shaima, who told them: "The king's orders washed the fears I lived with after this unjust sentence."

Jastaina was sentenced on Monday — a day after King Abdullah promised to protect women's rights and said women would be allowed to participate in municipal elections in 2015. He also promised to appoint women to the all-male Shura council advisory body.

The moves underline the challenge facing Abdullah, known as a reformer, as he pushes gently for change while trying not to antagonise the powerful clergy and a conservative segment of the population.

Although there are no written laws that restrict women from driving, the prohibition is rooted in conservative traditions and religious views that hold that giving freedom of movement to women would make them vulnerable to sins.

Police usually stop female drivers, question them and let them go after they sign a pledge not to drive again. But dozens of women have continued to take to the roads since June in a campaign to break the taboo.

Saudi Arabia is the only country in the world that bans women — both Saudi and foreign — from driving. The prohibition forces families to hire live-in drivers, and those who cannot afford the $300-$400 (£190-£255) a month for a driver must rely on male relatives to drive them.

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