Saudi activist group to flout ban on driving by women

A Saudi activist group has asked on women to get behind the wheel next week and defy a ban on female drivers, in a bid to revive a campaign that fizzled out last year.

"If women don't take action, the authorities will not lift the ban. It is up to women to decide," Manal Alsharif, one of the campaign organisers who was detained last year after posting a video of her driving in the streets of the city of Khobar, told Reuters on Tuesday.

Strict Islamic laws, in Saudi Arabia, require women to take the permission of a male guardian to travel abroad, undergo some types of medical surgery and take up certain jobs.

While there is no written legislation against women driving, the country's law requires citizens to use locally issued licences while in the country. Such licences are not issued to women, which effectively makes it illegal for them to drive.

"The key to lifting the ban on women driving in Saudi Arabia is to start with the women themselves ... That is why we ask the authorities to protect those women who need to practice that right," they said in an emailed statement sent to Reuters.

The campaign leaders had initially planned for women with valid international licences to drive on 17 June but the plans had to be postponed to 29 June after the death of conservative crown prince Nayef.