Saudis Bust Women Drivers

Kingdom should grant more freedoms, princess says
By Rob Quinn,  Newser Staff
Posted Jun 30, 2011 3:42 AM CDT
Saudis Bust Women Drivers
A woman drives a car in Riyadh earlier this month as part of a campaign to defy Saudi Arabia's ban on women driving.   (AP Photo/Saudi Women for Driving via Change.org, Eman Al-Nafjan)

Two women who defied Saudi Arabia's ban on women drivers and three who defied the nation's ban on being driven by women have been arrested by the country's religious police, according to the Saudi Women for Driving coalition. The arrests appear to be the first in the kingdom since a campaign to protest the ban kicked off earlier this month, notes the New York Times.

One driver and her three passengers were released after they—and their male guardians—signed a pledge not to drive again; it's not clear whether the other driver is still in custody. Saudi princess Basma bint Saud, meanwhile, warned that her country and its morality police should pay attention to protests elsewhere in the Arab world, reports Reuters. "No one is immune from the seasonal geographical winds of change that are sweeping our Arab homeland," she told BBC Arabic. "Let us grant freedom before it turns into challenge." Check out the YouTube video of the woman driver who helped launch the protest. (More Saudi Arabia stories.)

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