SAUDI WOMEN PETITION KING ABDULLAH FOR RIGHT TO

C O N F I D E N T I A L RIYADH 002024

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

G/IWI FOR ANDREA BOTTNER; NEA/ARP FOR ROBERT JACHIM;
DRL/NESCA FOR JESSICA LIEBERMAN; NEA/PPD FOR WALTER DOUGLAS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 10/01/2017
TAGS: PHUM PGOV KWMN KPAO SA
SUBJECT: SAUDI WOMEN PETITION KING ABDULLAH FOR RIGHT TO
DRIVE

Classified By: Political Counselor David Rundell for reasons
1.4 (b) and (d)


1. (C) SUMMARY: The Saudi press reported that on Saudi
National Day, September 23, Saudi women activists submitted a
petition to King Abdullah urging him to lift the ban on women
driving in the Kingdom. The Committee of Demanders of
Women's Right to Drive, a component of the newly formed
Society for Protecting and Defending Women's Rights,
sponsored the petition. The Society presented its position
as a social, rather than religious or political issue.
Although the petition is unlikely to result in women
achieving the right to drive, it is indicative of a growing
trend of public discussion on this topic. Saudi women are
increasingly expressing their opinions and lobbying for their
rights. END SUMMARY.


2. (U) The Saudi press reported that on Saudi National Day,
September 23, Saudi women activists submitted a petition to
King Abdullah urging him to lift the ban on women driving in
the Kingdom. The Committee of Demanders of Women's Right to
Drive, a component of the newly formed Society for Protecting
and Defending Women's Rights, sponsored the September 2007
petition. Saudi women first demonstrated the right to drive
in 1992. At that time, nearly 50 women took to the streets
in family cars. The women were quickly apprehended and their
passports temporarily confiscated; all participants were
subjected to vicious personal attacks by religious extremists
and all of the women employed by the SAG temporarily lost
their jobs. The following year, a fatwa (religious edict)
was issued prohibiting women from driving cars. Conservative
clerics defend this fatwa by arguing that allowing women to
drive would permit them to freely interact with men who were
not related to them, thereby leading to Western-style
immorality and an erosion of traditional values.


3. (U) Although the SAG and law enforcement officials have
upheld this fatwa, government officials made public
statements last year acknowledging that the decision to allow
women to drive is up to society and is not dependent upon the
repeal of any law. According to Saudi press reporting, King
Abdullah said after coming to the throne in 2005 that women
would be permitted to drive one day but he would not permit
it against the will of his people. The English language
daily "Arab News" reported on September 16 that Fawzia
al-Ayouni, a founding member of the Society for Protecting
and Defending Women,s Rights claimed that the King also
stated that granting women the right to drive is a social
issue -- not a political issue -- and that the Government
does not object to it. International press reporting
highlighted the fact that a member of the all-male appointed
Shura Council, Muhammad al-Zalfa, increased public debate of
women,s right to drive in 2005 when he proposed lifting the
ban. His motion was quickly quashed.


4. (C) Women's and human rights activist Wajeha al-Huawider,
an American-trained education analyst at the Aramco oil
corporation in Dhahran, co-founded the Society for Protecting
and Defending Women,s Rights with activists Fawzia
al-Ayouni, Ibtihal Mubarak, and Haifa Usra. According to the
Saudi press, this initiative, led by Al-Huawider, was the
first action taken by the Society. The request that women be
restored the right to drive was based on the facts that Saudi
women previously enjoyed the privilege of driving in rural
areas of Saudi Arabia and that there is no law explicitly
forbidding women to drive. "The time has come to give women
their natural right to drive a car, a right denied for purely
social and unjustified, reasons," the petition read.


5. (U) In an effort to garner support for the initiative, the
Society posted the petition on several Saudi websites and
circulated the ideas supporting the petition via emails and
text messages. Requesting the endorsement of Saudi
nationals, as well as members of the international community,
the petition received a total of 1100 signatures, 200 of
which came from supporters living abroad. In an interview
with an international press agency on September 24,
al-Huwaider noted, "We don't expect an answer right away, but
we will not stop campaigning until we get the right to
drive." In the same article, Ayouni stated that petition
supporters could face severe consequences for their attempts
to initiate change. "We could be detained, lose our jobs,
and be banned from traveling. But if we get the right to
drive, it would be worth it." Ayouni also recognized that by
filing the petition and generating international support for
the issue, the Society had "broken a barrier of fear that the
Saudi women had of asking for their rights." She concluded
her interview by saying that this was the Society's major
achievement. "We want the authorities to know that we're

here, that we want to drive, and that many people feel the
way we do."


6. (C) Local newspapers received numerous letters expressing
strong opinions in reaction to the petition. Many responded
in support of the effort, including Saudi novelist Abdu Khal,
who commented that the ban on driving had isolated the
Kingdom from the rest of the world. "Other than our
scholars, of course, no one has said that allowing women to
drive might lead to moral corruption," he wrote. "Are we the
only Muslims in the world?" Petition advocates noted the
irony of citing interaction with unrelated men as a reason to
prohibit women from driving when it is commonplace for women
to hire foreign men as live-in drivers. "Women and their
children are at the mercy of these foreign drivers," stated
Fawzia al-Ayouni in an interview with international press
reporters on September 24.. Though there is support for the
petition, some Saudi women attacked the petition's request --
noting that there are Saudi women who do not want the right
to drive. In fact, some readily confess that they enjoy
having a personal driver and do not want deal with the
traffic themselves. When asked her opinion about the
petition by EmbOffs on September 20, Hind Dhakeel
Al-Shammari, Public Relations Supervisor for Al-Nahda
Philanthropic Society for Women, queried, "Why would I want
to drive?"


7. (C) COMMENT: While it is unlikely that this petition
will result in Saudi women achieving the right to drive, it
can be viewed as an example of a very significant trend --
where women feel more free to express their opinions and
lobby for their rights. The fact that the petition was
endorsed by a mere 1,100 supporters is certainly illustrative
of the inherent conservatism of the Saudi people. There is
concern about the implications -- both moral and social -- of
women driving. However, the SAG is allowing the very public
debate of a what has traditionally been a highly contentious
issue. Continued public discourse on women's issues --
particularly those subjects once considered taboo -- serves
not only to educate, but also sets the stage for future
change. To date, there is no indication of any government
action against those who signed the petition. END COMMENT.

FRAKER