RIYADH: At least 16 Saudi women have received fines for taking the wheel on a day set by activists to defy the kingdom’s traditional ban on female driving, police and reports said yesterday.
Only few women braved official threats of punishment and drove on Saturday in response to an online campaign headlined “Women’s driving is a choice”.
“Police stopped six women driving in Riyadh, and fined them SR300 ($80) each,” said the capital’s police deputy spokesman, Colonel Fawaz Al Miman. Each of the women, along with her male guardian, had to “sign a pledge to respect the kingdom’s laws.”
In Jeddah, police also fined two women for driving, according to police spokesman Nawaf Al Bouq.
Six women were stopped by police in Eastern Province, and at least two others were stopped in other parts of the kingdom. A dozen Saudi women posted videos on the Twitter account of the campaign, @oct26driving, showing themselves driving. AFP
