Saudi Women Lobby King for Driving Right

[Robbien]

Source: Capitol Broadcasting Company

JIDDAH, Saudi Arabia — For the first time ever, a group of women in the only country that bans female drivers have formed a committee to lobby for the right to get behind the wheel, and they plan to petition King Abdullah in the next few days for the privilege.

The government is unlikely to respond because the issue remains so highly sensitive and divisive. But committee members say their petition will at least highlight what many Saudis - both men and women - consider a "stolen" right.

. . .

The last time the issue was raised was two years ago, when Mohammed al-Zulfa, a member of the unelected Consultative Council, asked his colleagues to think about studying the possibility of allowing women over age 35 or 40 to drive - unchaperoned on city streets but accompanied by a male guardian on highways.

The suggestion touched off a fierce controversy that included calls for al-Zulfa's removal from the council and stripping him of Saudi citizenship, as well as accusations he was encouraging women to commit the double sins of discarding their veils and mixing with men.

. . .

Women tried to defy the ban once and paid heavily for it. In November 1990, when U.S. troops were in Saudi Arabia following Iraq's invasion of Kuwait, some 50 women got behind the wheel and drove family cars. They were jailed for one day, their passports were confiscated and they lost their jobs.

Read more: http://www.wral.com/news/national_world/world/story/1824315/

[Katherine Brengle]

1. Good for them --

I'm sure they'll face a lot of opposition, but that's not a good reason not to fight for your rights.

Break down those walls Saudi women!

[CurtEastPoint]

2. At first glance, I thought it meant to change from driving on the left... n/t

[Captain Hilts]

3. Women just about NEVER drove in Moscow when I lived there in 1993. nt

[rodeodance]

4. the King likes to keep women barefoot and pregnant

[ohio2007]

5. If you give em an inch, they'll be wanting to burn their burka's

all over the muslim world




http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m8fCXUKLQyg&mode=related&search=


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kga6WTT9MKo&mode=related&search=

[Yupster]

6. The whole idea of lobbying the King

is pretty backward in itself.

[Tyler Durden]

7. LOVELY folks the Saudis.

Perfect allies for the creme de la creme of American Politics: The Pig Bush and his whole BFEE

[annabanana]

8. They go as supplicants..

not citizens.

A theocratic monarchy is an odd friend indeed...

[Scurrilous]

9. Saudi Woman Sprays Religious Police Agents During Makeup Row

<snip>

"Two Saudi women called agents of the feared religious police " terrorists" and one sprayed the men with a substance that irritated their eyes after the agents stopped them because they did not conform to the kingdom's strict dress code, the religious police said Monday in a statement.

One of the women filmed the incident, which took place in the Eastern Province on Thursday, the statement quoted Muhammed bin Marshoud al-Marshoud, head of the Eastern Province branch of the Commission for the Propagation of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice as saying."

<snip>

"Two members of the commission were attacked, cursed and sworn at by two women who were blatantly dolled up," al-Marshoud said, meaning the women were wearing makeup."

<snip>

"Monday's unusual statement by the commission, which rarely comments on its interaction with the public, comes weeks after a rare backlash on its members that was triggered by the death of two Saudi men in religious police custody."

http://www.nasdaq.com/aspxcontent/NewsStory.aspx?cpath=20070924%5cACQDJON200709240919DOWJONESDJONLINE000264.htm&