Manama: The spokesperson for Saudi Arabia’s Shura (Consultative) Council has rejected media reports that members had agreed to allow Saudi women to drive.
“The Council did not make any decision on this issue,” Mohammad Al Muhanna said. “The report disseminated by some media included lots of misleading details that prove that it was baseless and lacked credibility,” he said, quoted by local news site Sabq on Saturday.
An international news agency on Friday reported that the Council recommended that the government lift its ban on female drivers.
Citing a Council member it did not name, the report said the Shura Council made the recommendations in a secret, closed session held in the past month.
Under the recommendations, only women over 30 would be allowed to drive and they would need permission from a male relative — usually a husband or father, but lacking those, a brother or son. They would be allowed to drive from 7am to 8pm from Saturday to Wednesday and noon to 8pm on Thursday and Friday.
The conditions also require that a woman driver wear conservative dress and no make-up, the report said. Within cities, they can drive without a male relative in the car, but outside of cities, a male is required to be present.
According to the report, the council said a female traffic department would have to be created to deal with female drivers if their cars broke down or they encountered other problems, and to issue fines. It recommended the female traffic officers be under the supervision of the “religious agencies.”
However, the report in Sabq said that the international news agency report mentioned conditions under which women could be allowed to drive were exactly the same as those mentioned media claims made in 2008 and that later proved to be rumours that have originated from social media.
The claim that one of the conditions mentioned on Friday refers to restricted driving on Thursday and Friday, the former weekend in Saudi Arabia, indicates that the latest report is a repetition of a report that was published before Saudi Arabia switched its two-day weekend to Friday-Saturday.
Saudi Arabia made the historic change of the weekend on June 29, 2013.
There is no law or legal text that bans Saudi women from driving. Those who are apprehended by the police are briefly held for driving without valid driving licences.
By Habib Toumi Bureau Chief
Gulf News 2014. All rights reserved.
