Saudi woman sues ministry over driving ban

[A.Rafay]

RIYADH: A Saudi women’s rights activist said on Monday she has filed a lawsuit against the interior ministry over a decree banning women from obtaining driving licences in the ultra-conservative kingdom.

Nassima al-Sadah is the third woman to file such a lawsuit this year over the rule which enforces a traditional ban on women driving in the Muslim desert nation.

“I filed the lawsuit against the traffic department of the interior ministry at the Dammam court” in Eastern Province, she told AFP.

Before her, Manal al-Sharif, who became a symbol of a campaign to drive after she was arrested last year for defying the ban, and rights activist Samar Badawi also filed similar lawsuits. Sadah said she made a point by trying repeatedly to apply for a driving licence at the traffic department in Eastern Province. Saudi Arabia is the only country in the world that bans women from driving.

In June 2011, women activists launched a Women2Drive campaign on social media networks, with many also braving the ban and posting videos of themselves driving. The following June, activists cancelled plans to get behind the steering wheel on the first anniversary of their campaign, opting instead to petition King Abdullah to lift the ban.

Daily Times - Leading News Resource of Pakistan

 

[Wickerman]

All progressive Saudis, men and women should support this initiative. Saudi definitely needs more liberalism. A ban on driving is the craziest thing I have ever heard. I dont even know what bad can come of women opting to drive to the market or to their workplace.

 

[Cheetah786]

All progressive Saudis, men and women should support this initiative. Saudi definitely needs more liberalism. A ban on driving is the craziest thing I have ever heard. I dont even know what bad can come of women opting to drive to the market or to their workplace.

Women Drivers Compilation ( - YouTube

 

[Cloakedvessel]

A ban on driving is the craziest thing I have ever heard. I dont even know what bad can come of women opting to drive to the market or to their workplace.

The Saudi's behind the law think that restricting the movement of women, they can somehow prevent or curb wrongful sexual relations or activities. Clearly, they are mistaken as many observers have pointed out:

http://www.islamdaily.org/en/saudi-arabia/5577.how-a-british-******-saw-the-light.htm

Part of this local culture consisted of public institutions being segregated and women banned from driving on the grounds that it would give rise to “licentiousness”. I was repeatedly astounded at the stares Faye got from Saudi men and I from Saudi women.

Faye was not immodest in her dress. Out of respect for local custom, she wore the long black abaya and covered her hair in a black scarf. In all the years I had known my wife, never had I seen her appear so dull. Yet on two occasions she was accosted by passing Saudi youths from their cars. On another occasion a man pulled up beside our car and offered her his phone number.

In supermarkets I only had to be away from Faye for five minutes and Saudi men would hiss or whisper obscenities as they walked past. When Faye discussed her experiences with local women at the British Council they said: “Welcome to Saudi Arabia.”

After a month in Jeddah I heard from an Asian taxi driver about a Filipino worker who had brought his new bride to live with him in Jeddah. After visiting the Balad shopping district the couple caught a taxi home. Some way through their journey the Saudi driver complained that the car was not working properly and perhaps the man could help push it. The passenger obliged. Within seconds the Saudi driver had sped off with the man’s wife in his car and, months later, there was still no clue as to her whereabouts.

We had heard stories of the abduction of women from taxis by sex-deprived Saudi youths. At a Saudi friend’s wedding at a luxurious hotel in Jeddah, women dared not step out of their hotel rooms and walk to the banqueting hall for fear of abduction by the bodyguards of a Saudi prince who also happened to be staying there.

Why had the veil and segregation not prevented such behaviour? My Saudi acquaintances, many of them university graduates, argued strongly that, on the contrary, it was the veil and other social norms that were responsible for such widespread sexual frustration among Saudi youth.

At work the British Council introduced free internet access for educational purposes. Within days the students had downloaded the most obscene pornography from sites banned in Saudi Arabia, but easily accessed via the British Council’s satellite connection. Segregation of the sexes, made worse by the veil, had spawned a culture of pent-up sexual frustration that expressed itself in the unhealthiest ways.

Using Bluetooth technology on mobile phones, strangers sent pornographic clips to one another. Many of the clips were recordings of homosexual acts between Saudis and many featured young Saudis in orgies in Lebanon and Egypt. The obsession with sex in Saudi Arabia had reached worrying levels: rape and abuse of both sexes occurred frequently, some cases even reaching the usually censored national press.

My students told me about the day in March 2002 when the Muttawa [the religious police] had forbidden firefighters in Mecca from entering a blazing school building because the girls inside were not wearing veils. Consequently 15 young women burnt to death, but Wahhabism held its head high, claiming that God’s law had been maintained.

As a young Islamist, I organised events at college and in the local community that were strictly segregated and I believed in it. Living in Saudi Arabia, I could see the logical outcome of such segregation.

In my Islamist days we relished stating that Aids and other sexually transmitted diseases were the result of the moral degeneracy of the West. Large numbers of Islamists in Britain hounded prostitutes in Brick Lane and flippantly quoted divorce and abortion rates in Britain. The implication was that Muslim morality was superior. Now, more than ever, I was convinced that this too was Islamist propaganda, designed to undermine the West and inject false confidence in Muslim minds.

I worried whether my observations were idiosyncratic, the musings of a wandering mind. I discussed my troubles with other British Muslims working at the British Council. Jamal, who was of a Wahhabi bent, fully agreed with what I observed and went further. “Ed, my wife wore the veil back home in Britain and even there she did not get as many stares as she gets when we go out here.” Another British Muslim had gone as far as tinting his car windows black in order to prevent young Saudis gaping at his wife.

The problems of Saudi Arabia were not limited to racism and sexual frustration.

http://muslimvillage.com/forums/topic/33901-how-a-british-******-saw-the-light/

 

[Wickerman]

The Saudi's behind the law think that restricting the movement of women, they can somehow prevent or curb wrongful sexual relations or activities. Clearly, they are mistaken as many observers have pointed out:

http://www.islamdaily.org/en/saudi-arabia/5577.how-a-british-******-saw-the-light.htm

Tell me about it man.

This segregation and all that, is just nonsense. Men and women need to be able to interact, be friendly with each other and have sex consensually. These guys artificially try to curb natural behavior in the name of religion and fake morality. Sad indeed. I mean in a society like India where pre-marital sex is not preferred I consider it VERY conservative. But compared to Saudi India is WAY more liberal. Although there are tribal people called Muriya people in India that actually have pre-marital sex as a NORM. I like that tribe

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Muria_people

The Muria embrace sexuality from a young age. Youths are sent to mixed-sex dormitories called ghotul, where they live in close quarters and are expected to engage in sexual activities, up to and including intercourse; this expectation does not extend to group sex, which is discouraged. In some ghotul, adolescents are put in monogamous relationships; in others they are discouraged from becoming emotionally attached to their partners, and those who sleep together for more than three nights are punished. Although having privacy for intercourse is considered important, it is not deemed a necessity.

Prior to engagement, Muria males may freely engage in sexual intercourse with their mother's brother's daughter or father's sister's daughter, while females may do the same with their father's sister's son or mother's brother's son; this is not allowed after betrothal. Females may freely grab each other's breasts or exchange sexually themed jokes, a custom which becomes more common as they get older.

Thats just amazing man. For a tribal people they SO liberal!

 

[Cloakedvessel]

Tell me about it man.

This segregation and all that, is just nonsense. Men and women need to be able to interact, be friendly with each other and have sex consensually. These guys artificially try to curb natural behavior in the name of religion and fake morality. Sad indeed. I mean in a society like India where pre-marital sex is not preferred I consider it VERY conservative. But compared to Saudi India is WAY more liberal. Although there are tribal people called Muriya people in India that actually have pre-marital sex as a NORM. I like that tribe

Muria people - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia



Thats just amazing man. For a tribal people they SO liberal!

I remember reading about some African tribes something similar, a custom of sharing their wives within a tribe.

In the West, they are just called swingers.

Every country has its own peculiarities when it comes to indulging and extravagant activities, I guess.

 

[BATMAN]

Women driving in Saudi Arabia would bring up too many challenges for the interior ministry.

Imagine a Saudi woman driving in Ruba-al-Khali or desert and his car broke down............ how would the thousands of bachelors around would behave!

 

[Kashif.K]

LOL how stupid. These people are still living in the stone age.

 

[somebozo]

In an age and era where humans are exploring moon and mars these people are still debating women driving...seriously!

Women driving in Saudi Arabia would bring up too many challenges for the interior ministry.

Imagine a Saudi woman driving in Ruba-al-Khali or desert and his car broke down............ how would the thousands of bachelors around would behave!

They would behave like humans if the society is raised on the basic of normal social interaction between male and female.
But if you are going to bring some doctrine from medival age and cover one of the specie in head to toe in black - then only God may help you rise out of ignorance!

 

[(Bilal)]

LOL how stupid. These people are still living in the stone age.

Where? in Europe?

 

[somebozo]

Where? in Europe?

no in canada!!

 

[BATMAN]

In an age and era where humans are exploring moon and mars these people are still debating women driving...seriously!



They would behave like humans if the society is raised on the basic of normal social interaction between male and female.
But if you are going to bring some doctrine from medival age and cover one of the specie in head to toe in black - then only God may help you rise out of ignorance!

Who you? Did I said any of the stuff you mentioned?

As i said, it will be a challenge for women and interior ministry, because Saudi Arabia is not normal society.

I really wish that Saudi govt. give the permission, this way hypocracy of foreigners will be un-earthed.

In case permission is granted, I can bet only foreigners would ban their women from driving not the Saudis.

 

[somebozo]

Who you? Did I said any of the stuff you mentioned?

As i said, it will be a challenge for women and interior ministry, because Saudi Arabia is not normal society.

I really wish that Saudi govt. give the permission, this way hypocracy of foreigners will be un-earthed.

In case permission is granted, I can bet only foreigners would ban their women from driving not the Saudis.

Are you an imature 12 years old ? Your post make no sense at all!

 

[BATMAN]

LOL how stupid. These people are still living in the stone age.

Clearly you have not visited Saudi Arabia, try google earth to find out.

 

[somebozo]

Who you? Did I said any of the stuff you mentioned?

As i said, it will be a challenge for women and interior ministry, because Saudi Arabia is not normal society.

I really wish that Saudi govt. give the permission, this way hypocracy of foreigners will be un-earthed.

In case permission is granted, I can bet only foreigners would ban their women from driving not the Saudis.

Clearly you have not visited Saudi Arabia, try google earth to find out.

What we have here is another case of identity confused Pakistani with inferiority syndrome!