Saudi Activists Call On Women To Defy Driving Ban

(Reuters) - A group of Saudi activists are calling on women to get behind the wheel next week in defiance of a ban on female drivers, reviving a campaign that petered out last year.

Driving While Female is an offense against Allah

 "If women don't take action, the authorities will not lift the ban. It is up to women to decide," Manal Alsharif, one of the campaign organizers who was detained last year after posting a video of her driving in the streets of the city of Khobar, told Reuters on Tuesday.

 Under Saudi Arabia's strict Islamic laws, women require a male guardian's permission to travel abroad, undergo some types of medical surgery and work in some jobs.

 While there is no written legislation banning women from driving, Saudi law requires citizens to use locally issued licenses while in the country.

Such licenses are not issued to women, making it effectively illegal for them to drive.

 "The key to lifting the ban on women driving in Saudi Arabia is to start with the women themselves ... That is why we ask the authorities to protect those women who need to practice that right," they said in an emailed statement sent to Reuters.

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