http://www.theage.com.au/world/saudi-women-arrested-over-driving-fatwa-20110610-1fwz7.html
Saudi women arrested over driving fatwa June 11, 2011 Saudi activist Asmaa al-Ali talks to reporters. Photo: AFP Police in Saudi Arabia have arrested five women for breaking a ban on female drivers, one of the women reported. They were arrested north of Riyadh, in Hettein district, she said. They were ''training for driving'' in three cars on an empty block of land when two police officers turned up and detained them. The women, aged between 20 and 30, were taken to a police station and their male guardians were called, said one woman, who used a mobile phone, which they were allowed to keep. ''We did not break the law,'' she said. ''We were not driving on the road.'' The arrests come a week before a protest by Saudi women who are planning to take the wheel in protest against the ban, which is unique to the kingdom that applies a strict version of Sunni Islam. The organisers of the June 17 demonstration emphasise that no law in Saudi Arabia forbids women from driving, and that the ban is based on a fatwa, or religious ruling, issued in the kingdom. A Saudi woman was arrested last month after being caught driving in Eastern Province, triggering a national campaign urging King Abdullah to release her and lift the ban on women driving. In addition to the driving ban, women are not allowed to travel without an authorisation from a male guardian. In public, they are forced to cover from head to toe. In Riyadh a Saudi activist, Asmaa al-Ali said that Saudi women were planning to take the wheel next Friday in protest against the driving ban. She has been a prominent spokesperson in the struggle to give Saudi women the right to drive in the conservative kingdom. AAP Read more: http://www.theage.com.au/world/saudi-women-arrested-over-driving-fatwa-20110610-1fwz7.html#ixzz1Ov3x3n92 [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] ------------------------------------ Post message: prole...@egroups.com Subscribe : proletar-subscr...@egroups.com Unsubscribe : proletar-unsubscr...@egroups.com List owner : proletar-ow...@egroups.com Homepage : http://proletar.8m.com/Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/proletar/ <*> Your email settings: Individual Email | Traditional <*> To change settings online go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/proletar/join (Yahoo! ID required) <*> To change settings via email: proletar-dig...@yahoogroups.com proletar-fullfeatu...@yahoogroups.com <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: proletar-unsubscr...@yahoogroups.com <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
