Activist urges Saudi women to drive on December 28

A Saudi female activist has called on other women to get behind the wheel again on December 28. On Wednesday, activist Nasima al-Sada said the call is a "reminder of the right so it is not forgotten," AFP reported.

"We will continue until we get our rights," Sada said referring to a campaign launched on October 26, when police stopped 16 activists for defying the driving ban. On Friday, the kingdom’s security forces detained leading campaigner Aziza al-Yousef while driving a car through the capital Riyadh along with her fellow activist Eman al-Nafjan. There is no specific law to prevent women from driving in the kingdom, however, women simply cannot apply for driving licenses and some have been arrested for driving.

Saudi Arabia is the only country in the world where women are prohibited from driving. The medieval ban is a religious fatwa imposed by the country’s Wahhabi clerics. If women get behind the wheel in the kingdom, they may be arrested, sent to court and even flogged.

Supporters of the ban say allowing women to drive will threaten public morality and encourage them to mix freely in public. In 2011, dozens of women took part in a similar campaign, dubbed Women2Drive, challenging the ban. They posted on internet social networks pictures and videos of themselves while driving. In 1991, authorities stopped 47 women who got behind the wheel in a demonstration against the driving ban. After being arrested, many were further punished by being banned from travel and suspended from their workplaces.