A Saudi appeals court has upheld a controversial sentence against a woman simply for driving a car.
On Monday, the court in the Saudi Arabian capital Riyadh upheld a previous sentence to jail the woman for eight months. The woman was also sentenced to 150 lashes.
She was additionally charged with resisting arrest and violence against police officers who detained her.
Although there is no specific law that bans women from driving in Saudi Arabia, 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.
Saudi women have, on many occasions, defied the ban in protest, calling on authorities to not deny them their basic rights.
In 2011, dozens of women took part in a 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.
Tuesday, April 29, 2014
Saudi court upholds sentence against female driver
A Saudi appeals court has upheld a controversial sentence against a woman simply for driving a car.
On Monday, the court in the Saudi Arabian capital Riyadh upheld a previous sentence to jail the woman for eight months. The woman was also sentenced to 150 lashes.
She was additionally charged with resisting arrest and violence against police officers who detained her.
Although there is no specific law that bans women from driving in Saudi Arabia, 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.
Saudi women have, on many occasions, defied the ban in protest, calling on authorities to not deny them their basic rights.
In 2011, dozens of women took part in a 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.
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