Saudi Arabian authorities must stop treating Women's rights's rightss rights's rights's rights's rights as second-class citizens and open the Kingdom’s roads to Women's rights's rightss rights's rights's rights's rights drivers, Amnesty International said today, as a group of Saudi Arabian Women's rights's rightss rights's rights's rights's rights prepared to defy a decades-old ban on Women's rights's rightss rights's rights's rights's rights driving. 

 

An online campaign has called on Women's rights's rightss rights's rights's rights's rights who hold international driving licences to start driving on Saudi Arabian roads on 17 June. The “Women's rights's rightss rights's rights's rights's rights2Drive” campaign has used Facebook and Twitter to encourage Women's rights's rightss rights's rights's rights's rights to drive as part of their normal daily activities rather than converge in one place. 

 

The Saudi Arabian authorities have clamped down on recent attempts to defy the driving ban by Women's rights's rightss rights's rights's rights's rights who hold international driving licences.  The authorities in the city of al-Khobar in the country’s Eastern Province last month arrested Manal al-Sharif, a 32-year-old computer security consultant, after she drove on more than one occasion and urged other Women's rights's rightss rights's rights's rights's rights to drive in a video she posted to YouTube. 

 

She was forced to sign a pledge that she would not drive again and was released after ten days. Since her arrest, several Women's rights's rightss rights's rights's rights's rights have reportedly been arrested on various occasions for driving in different parts of the country and released shortly after signing pledges not to drive in future. 

 

Amnesty International Middle East and North Africa Deputy Director Philip Luther said: 

 

“Not allowing Women's rights's rightss rights's rights's rights's rights behind the wheel in Saudi Arabia is an immense barrier to their freedom of movement, and severely limits their ability to carry out everyday activities as they see fit, such as going to work or the supermarket, or picking up their Children's rights from school.

 

“Saudi Arabian authorities must not arrest licensed Women's rights's rightss rights's rights's rights's rights drivers who choose to drive, and must grant them the same driving privileges as men. 

 

“This is just one example of so many areas of life where Women's rights's rightss rights's rights's rights's rights in Saudi Arabia have their human rights and their agency denied. “In many significant areas of life, Saudi Arabian Women's rights's rightss rights's rights's rights's rights face severe discrimination and must be allowed to peacefully challenge this status quo.”

 

The Minister of Interior has formally banned Women's rights's rightss rights's rights's rights's rights from driving in Saudi Arabia since 1990, when a group of Women's rights's rightss rights's rights's rights's rights staged a driving protest to challenge a customary ban in place until then. 

 

Women's rights's rightss rights's rights's rights's rights in Saudi Arabia face severe discrimination in both law and in practice. They are denied the right to vote, and must obtain the permission of a male guardian before they can travel, take paid work or enrol in higher education, or marry. Domestic violence against Women's rights's rightss rights's rights's rights's rights is believed to be rife.