Saudi women get freedom to drive

FREEDOM DRIVE: Government officials say a decree will be issued by the end of this year, lifting a longstanding ban on women drivers. (AFP)

Women in Saudi Arabia will be allowed to get behind the wheel as the government lifts its longstanding ban on female drivers, according to a UK newspaper report.

A decree will be issued by the end of this year, the Daily Telegraph reported officials as saying.

“There has been a decision to move on this by the Royal Court because it is recognised that if girls have been in schools since the 1960s they have a capability to function behind the wheel when they grow up,” a source said, adding, “We will make an announcement soon.”

Shura Council member Mohammad Al Zulfa said the decision comes as part of King Abdullah’s reform strategy.

“When it was first raised, the extremists were really mad,” he said. “Now they just complain. It is diminishing into a form of consent.”

The decision comes after a fresh drive by activists to get the ban, in place since the establishment of the state in 1932, lifted.

A new petition was handed to King Abdullah earlier this month urging him to end the restriction, and stating the “hope that 2008 will be the year in which Saudi women obtain their natural right to drive a car”.

Women will also be allowed to stay in hotels or furnished apartments without their male guardian, marking the end to further restrictions, a local newspaper reported on Monday.

The Ministry of Commerce and Industry has issued a circular to hotels asking that they accept women, providing their details are sent to a police station, Al-Watan said.

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