RIYADH: A Saudi women’s rights activist said yesterday she has filed a lawsuit against the interior ministry over a decree banning women from obtaining driving licences in the kingdom.
Nassima Al Sadah is the third woman to file such a lawsuit this year over the rule which enforces a traditional ban on women driving in the Muslim desert nation.
“I filed the lawsuit against the traffic department of the interior ministry at the Dammam court” in Eastern Province, she said.
Before her, Manal Al Sharif, who became a symbol of a campaign to drive after she was arrested last year for defying the ban, and rights activist Samar Badawi also filed similar lawsuits.
Sadah said she made a point by trying repeatedly to apply for a driving licence at the traffic department in Eastern Province.
Saudi Arabia is the only country in the world that bans women from driving. In June 2011, women activists launched a Women2Drive campaign on social media networks, with many also braving the ban and posting videos of themselves driving.
Kuwait summons Islamist activist over 10-year-old article
KUWAIT CITY: Kuwait’s public prosecution has summoned Islamist activist Hakem Al Mutairi over an article he wrote 10 years ago and deemed to undermine the emir’s status, the writer said yesterday.
Mutairi, a former president of the Islamist Ommah Party, said on Twitter that he was called in for interrogation over the article that was first posted in 2003 and then reprinted in the Kuwaiti newspaper Alam Al Youm in 2007.
“The public prosecution has accused the editor of Alam Al Youm (Abdulhameed Al Daas) and myself of undermining the status of the emir,” said Mutairi, who is a professor of Islamic affairs at Kuwait University. “Authorities think that through these oppressive measures, they will stop me from challenging tyranny. This didn’t work before the Arab Spring, how will it work now?” Mutairi said.
The article covered Mutairi’s view that the Arab world needs fundamental change and reform to achieve justice and equality, saying such objectives can be achieved through peaceful protests.AFP
