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RIYADH, Saudi Arabia - Police in Saudi Arabia have arrested five more women for driving a car in the conservative Arab kingdom - even though they were on an empty plot.
The five, aged 20 to 30, said they were learning to drive on the open space north of Riyadh when police arrived and detained them until their male "guardians" arrived.
"We did not break the law. We were not driving on the road," one of the five said.
UNIQUE BAN
The arrests came a week before a nationwide protest by Saudi women who are planning to take the wheel in protest against the ban which is unique to the kingdom that applies a strict version of Sunni Islam.
The organisers of the planned June 17 demonstration emphasise that no law in Saudi Arabia forbids women from driving and that the ban is based on a fatwa - a religious edict.
A Saudi woman was arrested in May (2011) after being caught driving. The arrest triggered a national campaign urging King Abdullah to release her and to lift the ban on women driving.
In addition to the driving ban, women are not allowed to travel without an authorisation from a male guardian. In public, they must be covered from head to toe.
The five, aged 20 to 30, said they were learning to drive on the open space north of Riyadh when police arrived and detained them until their male "guardians" arrived.
"We did not break the law. We were not driving on the road," one of the five said.
UNIQUE BAN
The arrests came a week before a nationwide protest by Saudi women who are planning to take the wheel in protest against the ban which is unique to the kingdom that applies a strict version of Sunni Islam.
The organisers of the planned June 17 demonstration emphasise that no law in Saudi Arabia forbids women from driving and that the ban is based on a fatwa - a religious edict.
A Saudi woman was arrested in May (2011) after being caught driving. The arrest triggered a national campaign urging King Abdullah to release her and to lift the ban on women driving.
In addition to the driving ban, women are not allowed to travel without an authorisation from a male guardian. In public, they must be covered from head to toe.
