Big News Network.com Tuesday 31st May, 2011
A 32-year old woman arrested on charges of driving a car in Saudi Arabia has been released after being detained for ten days.
Manal Al-Sharif was taken into custody on May 21st after she uploaded a clip of her driving to the video Web site YouTube.
Alkhobar police formalised papers ordering her release on Monday night.
“Yes, I can confirm, she has been released,” the National Society for Human Rights (NSHR) confirmed in a statement.
Al-Sharif's driving came to the attention of the Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice in Alkhobar, who orchestrated her arrest. She was then released when she gave an undertaking not to break the law again. However the following day she was taken into custody and on Thursday was ordered to serve ten days in prison.
The woman's ordeal has been the subject of intense chatter on social media Web sites. Al-Sharif heightened interest by saying she would organize and participate in a women's driving protest in the kingdom next month. She started a campaign to promote the event, calling it "Women2Drive." As part of a deal with police she agreed to cancel the protest.
Al-Sharif wrote to Saudi's King Abdullah asking for him to intervene.
“She did not commit a grave crime to merit a long detention,” Al-Sharif's solicitor Adnan Al-Saleh said Tuesday.
“She has full faith in the country’s judicial system and believes that she will get a fair trial,” Al-Saleh said.
Al-Sharif, a divorcee, is employed by oil giant Saudi Aramco as an IT expert.
The Deputy Minister of Interior Prince Ahmad said last week that women driving automobiles in Saudi Arabia is against the law. “A statement was issued in 1990 prohibiting women from driving cars in the kingdom. The Ministry of Interior’s task is to implement an order. It is not our job to say something is right or wrong,” he said at a press conference in Madinah.
