Reporting by: Nehal El-Sherif
26.10.2013
Riyadh/Cairo (dpa) - Saudi women got behind the wheel on Saturday to protest an informal ban barring them from driving.
Activists have published more than a dozen videos on YouTube showing women driving in defiance of the decades-long ban, which makes the oil-producing kingdom the world's only country where women are not allowed to drive.
The Interior Ministry has vowed to punish offenders, deploying security forces and religious police in several cities, witnesses said.
"I am driving with my sisters to run our errands, so they do not have to wait for drivers," said a woman filmed in the eastern al-Ahsa province.
"I have a license and I can drive, so we are not in danger," added the woman, who wore a full-face veil.
No law prevents women from driving, but driver's licenses are not issued to women. Female violators in the past were arrested and fined. Many Saudi women have driving licenses from other Gulf countries.
"Come down girls and join," said a man while taking a video of his wife driving.
Another woman was more defiant as she identified herself as May al-Sawyan in the video posted online. She covered her hair with a black scarf, without covering her face.
Since its launch on September 20, the Women2Drive campaign has drawn online support from more than 20,000 citizens, according to the organizers.
"The campaign will not stop ... we will continue together until the ban is lifted," said the campaign on its Twitter account.
This is the second campaign since 2011.
In 1990, some 47 women took to the streets in 15 cars to defy the ban. They were all detained and severely punished.
On Thursday, the New York-based Human Rights Watch called on Saudi authorities to lift the driving ban for women.
“It’s past time to address the country’s systemic discrimination; driving could open roads to reform,” the group said.
Saudi King Abdullah, seen as a political and social reformer, has promised to bring social change to the country. However, he is faces resistance from senior clerics opposed to given women more freedom.
In 2011, Abdullah issued a decree allowing women to run for and vote in the municipal elections and said women will be appointed as members of the advisory parliament.
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