RIYADH: Two Saudi women said they drove their cars Wednesday in the capital in a new move against a traditional ban on women driving in the Kingdom. Their action came in response to a call on the Internet for women in Riyadh to get behind the wheel, after a show of defiance on Friday in which 42 women took to the road. Iman Al-Nafjan, in her 30s, said she had driven her car Wednesday, just as she has done “every day since last Friday”, despite a harassing message stuck to the windscreen of her car. The handwritten note read “Plz do not drive” on one side and carried an insult on the other, witnesses said. “This threat will not stop me,” Al-Nafjan said. Sara Al-Khalidi also said she has been driving since Friday's protest, saying she had driven again Wednesday before being stopped by a traffic policeman, who told her that police were looking for her and that she should drive home without stopping. Al-Khalidi said the policeman didn't seek to make an arrest and privately urged her to drive at night to avoid drawing attention. She said that “people encourage me when they've seen me driving these last few days”. US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and German Chancellor Angela Merkel have both expressed support for Saudi women who wish to drive. No law forbids women from driving in Saudi Arabia but a religious edict stipulates that women must be driven by a male chauffeur or a family member. – Agence France
