Saudi Woman Arrested for Protesting Female Driving Ban

From The Daily What.: A concerted effort appears to be underway to keep footage of a Saudi woman driving through the streets of Khobar off the web.

Manal al-Sharif was arrested Sunday after she posted a video of herself driving while encouraging other women to flout the Saudi ban on female drivers. Sharif and other like-minded women were organizing a June 17 “drive-in” protest when she was arrested; the Facebook page for the event was deleted despite amassing over 12,000 likes, and a fake Twitter account appearing to belong to Sharif claimed the campaign was off.

Saudi blogger Eman Al Nafjan, who discovered the fake account, wrote: “Someone pretending to be her tweeted that she has repented once she realized that the call to lift the ban is an Iranian and atheist conspiracy that will lead society to moral decadence.”

Nafjan and other Saudi bloggers have been working round the clock to counter the government’s maneuvers, reviving the protest’s Facebook page, reuping the deleted YouTube video (above), and reposting the rules for participating in the June 17 movement.

Wajiha Howeidar, who was operating the camera during Sharif’s joy ride, told France 24: “I’m under the impression that this mobilization has somewhat changed mentalities inside the country, but I also see that authorities haven’t budged an inch. Our leaders are like many others in the Arab world: they don’t take their people’s opinions and aspirations into account.”

[nyt / thelede.]

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