Saudis petition rights body over women's driving

Jun 29, 2005, 12:11 GMT

Dubai - About 100 Saudis, more than half of them women, have petitioned the country's government-sanctioned human rights watchdog seeking support for an end to the ban on women driving, regional media reported Wednesday.

The 102 signatories, who include academics, businesswomen, female doctors and housewives, described their plight caused by the ban in their petition to the National Human Rights Association (NHRA).

The petition makes the debate on women's driving far from over.

NHRC Vice Chairman Dr Hamad Al Majid told reporters that the petition supporting women's driving has been referred to the commission's legal consultancy department to decide whether it should take up the issue.

"We in the commission do not ignore any application sent to us. This particular letter will be addressed and the chairman will direct the relevant bodies to take necessary action. The commission has 40 members working as legal advisors. It is hoped that the petition will get a response soon," he said.

In 1990, the late Shaikh Abdul Aziz Bin Baz, the then grand mufti of Saudi Arabia, issued a fatwa that led the Interior Ministry to impose a ban on women driving.

The same year 47 defiant women drove cars in Riyadh for half an hour before being stopped by the authorities.

They were later removed from their jobs and banned together with their families from travelling abroad.

Saudi Arabia applies a strict interpretation of Islamic law and women face many restrictions in the kingdom.

A major newspaper advertisement campaign launched over the past few days by the Kingdom Holding Company owned by billionaire Prince Waleed Bin Talal congratulating a Saudi woman for becoming the country's first licensed female pilot has enraged the religious and conservative figures.

Prince Waleed, who employed 24-year-old Captain Hanadi Zakaria to work for his company fleet of private jets, has been putting full-page advertisements in the local papers congratulating her for becoming the first Saudi woman to earn a commercial pilot's licence.

Internet sites run by extremists and conservatives have been attacking plans to allow Saudi women to pilot aircraft, prompting a Saudi cleric to issue a fatwa making it unlawful for any woman to work as pilot.

The cleric said this work would require the woman to travel alone without a mahram (male guardian) accompanying her and this would lead to women mixing with men, which is not acceptable.

Shaikh Yousuf Al Ahmad, associate professor of Sharia at Imam Mohammad Bin Saud University in Riyadh, said in a statement that the contract signed by the Kingdom Holding Co. is unlawful and that women should never be allowed to work as pilots or air hostesses. He also ruled as unlawful the advertisements by the company.