CAIRO: The Egyptian Center for Women's Rights and a number of NGOs express their great worry about the arrest of the Saudi citizen Manal Mousad El Sherif, 32-years-old on the charge of inciting women to drive cars, and of driving a car in Al-Khubar city, in the Eastern Province of Saudi Arabia. Such a breach has an unclear punishment in Saudi Arabia. Manal El Sherif is a Saudi activist working in the Saudi Aramco company; she called on women to drive through creating a page on the social networks, which is considered one of the banned practices of women in KSA. ECWR thinks that the decision of arresting her is illicit according to the regime of KSA, since there is no stipulation in the Saudi law that bans women from driving cars, in addition that there is no ban in the Shar'ia that prevents that. Women drive cars in deserts and outside borders of the cities without being stopped or without it being registered as a breach in KSA, while they are banned to drive in cities. This is astonishing. This decision is considered to be adverse and contradictory to women's rights in Islam and before that contradictory to all international conventions and charters that give women equal rights with men, at the top of them the “Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women”, which Saudi Arabia signed. Following the rules of banning women's driving is considered a striking violation of the personal freedom and an increased violence against women that started to get on a dangerous way. The Egyptian Center for Women's Rights affirms that this decision does not correspond with the Islamic Shar'a since there is no stipulation in Islam that prevents women from driving. This is considered a great offense to Islam that contributes in planting a negative image of Islam in the world, at the expense of Islam's values that respect justice and freedom. The political use of the Islamic Shari'a and its practice lead to involving Shari'a in justifying laws that are considered barbaric at the least consideration. ECWR praises the braveness of the activist Manal El Sherif and its valid position in confronting the situation as a Saudi citizen and in defending her full rights as a human being. The situation also affirms the important role played by Saudi Arabia in the Islamic world which makes it responsible for deepening human rights as a value that does not contradict with Islam. ECWR stresses its solidarity with the activist's situation and requests: - The immediate release of the activist Manal El Sherif. - Canceling the decision related to banning women from driving cars in KSA. - Reviewing all the discriminatory legislation and policies against women in KSA. BM
