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http://www.sunherald.com/2014/11/07/5901797_saudi-council-urges-easing-ban.html?rh=1
SAUDI ARABIA KINGS
ADVISORY COUNCIL RECOMMENDS EASING DRIVING BAN,
BUT WITH CONDITIONS FINAL
OUTCOME STILL UNCERTAIN
By ABDULLAH AL-SHIHRI November 7, 2014 -
The_Associated_Press
In this file photo taken Saturday, March 29, 2014, Aziza
Yousef drives a car in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, as part of a campaign to defy
Saudi Arabia's ban on women driving. A Saudi official said Friday, Nov. 7, that
the kingdom's advisory council has recommended to the government for the first
time the partial lifting of the ban on women driving, but with conditions: Only
women over 30, only during the day, and no makeup allowed while driving.
HASAN JAMALI, FILE AP Photo
RIYADH, Saudi Arabia It's only for women over 30, who
must be off the road by 8 p.m. and cannot wear makeup behind the wheel. But
it's still a startling shift.
The Saudi king's advisory council has recommended that
the government lift its ban on female drivers, a member of the council told The
Associated Press Friday.
The Shura Council's recommendations are not obligatory on
the government, but simply making the recommendation was a major step after
years of the kingdom staunchly rejecting any review of the ban.
There have been small but increasingly bold protests by
women who took to their cars over the past year. The driving ban, which is
unique in the world, is imposed because the kingdom's ultraconservative Muslim
clerics say "licentiousness" will spread if women drive.
The council member said the Shura Council made the
recommendations in a secret, closed session held in the past month. The member
spoke on condition of anonymity because the recommendations had not been made
public.
Under the recommendations, only women over 30 would be
allowed to drive and they would need permission from a male relative usually
a husband or father, but lacking those, a brother or son. They would be allowed
to drive from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. on Saturday through Wednesday and noon to 8 p.m.
on Thursday and Friday. It wasn't immediately clear why the restrictions would
be different Thursday and Friday, as the Saudi weekend was changed by royal
decree in 2013 to Friday and Saturday.
The conditions also require that a woman driver wear
conservative dress and no make-up, the official said. Within cities, they can
drive without a male relative in the car, but outside of cities, a male is
required to be present.
The council said a "female traffic department"
would have to be created to deal with female drivers if their cars broke down
or they encountered other problems, and to issue fines. It recommended the
female traffic officers be under the supervision of the "religious
agencies."
The council placed heavy restrictions on interactions
between female drivers and male traffic officers or other male drivers, and
stiff penalties for those who broke them. Merely speaking to a female driver,
it said, was punishable by a one-month prison sentence and a fine.
The 150-member Shura Council is appointed by the king,
drawing on various sectors of society to act as the closest thing to a
parliament in the kingdom, though it has no legislative powers. King Abdullah
appointed women to it for the first time, and now there are 30 female members.
The driving ban has long forced families to hire live-in
drivers for women. Women who can't afford the $300 to $400 a month for a driver
must rely on male relatives to drive them to work, school, shopping or the
doctor.
The ban is part of the general restrictions imposed on
women based on the strict interpretation of Islamic Shariah law known as
Wahhabism. Genders are strictly segregated, and women are required to wear a
headscarf and loose, black robes in public. Guardianship laws require women to
get permission from a male relative to travel, get married, enroll in higher education
or undergo certain surgical procedures.
Female activists launched their latest campaign to defy
the driving ban on Oct. 26, when dozens of women drove around their
neighborhoods and posted video clips of themselves driving on social networking
sites.
The campaign prompted authorities to issue a statement
warning violators would be dealt with firmly. Saudi Arabia has no written law
barring women from driving only fatwas, or religious edicts, by senior
clerics.
Campaigns to overturn the driving ban have been going on
for decades.
During the first major protest, in 1990, around 50 women
drove. They were jailed for a day, had their passports confiscated and lost
their jobs. Their male relatives were also barred from traveling for six
months.
In June 2011, about 40 women got behind the wheel in a
protest sparked when a woman was arrested after posting a video of herself
driving. One woman was later arrested and sentenced to 10 lashes, a penalty the
king overturned.
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