From Saudi Arabia comes the news that the most senior cleric in the land has voiced his support for the kingdom’s ban on women driving, arguing it is “a dangerous matter that exposes women to evil.”
The kingdom adheres to an ultraconservative interpretation of Islam and is the only country in the world where women are not allowed to drive.
There are no explicit laws banning women from driving, but in practise they are never given licenses to drive.
From around the world, women’s rights activists have faced detention for trying to defy the ban.
Speaking on the religious satellite channel al-Majd, Mufti Sheikh Abulaziz Al Sheikh said men with “weak spirits” who are “obsessed with women” could cause female drivers harm and that family members would not know the whereabouts of women.
His comments were published on Sunday on the state-linked Sabq news website.
Dr Saleh Al-Saadoon explained: “If a woman drives from one city to another and her car breaks down, what will become of her?”
Reacting to when he was told that women drive worldwide and dealt with these problems he said: “They don’t care if they are raped on the roadside but we do.”
Women in Saudi Arabia cannot obtain identification cards without the consent of their male guardian and floggings and death sentences are commonplace.
It is illegal for Saudi women to travel abroad without male accompaniment. They may only do so if their guardian agrees by signing a document know as a ‘yellow sheet’ at an airport or border crossing.
In November 2012 it emerged women were being electronically monitored with authorities using SMS to track them and inform their husbands of their whereabouts.
Recently though, things have gotten better with women being given the right to vote and run for office in 2011.
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