RIYADH – Saudi police are hunting for arsonists who torched a woman’s car,only a week after the kingdom lifted a decades-long ban on female motorists.
Salma al-Sherif, a 31-year-old cashier based near the holy city of Mecca,told local media that her car had been deliberately set alight this week bymen “opposed to women drivers”.
“The incident is being investigated by security officials,” Mecca policesaid in a statement released late Tuesday by local authorities.
“We are searching for the culprits.”
On June 24, women celebrated taking the wheel for the first time in decadesas the ultra-conservative kingdom overturned the world’s only ban on femaledrivers.
For decades, arch-conservatives justified the ban saying that allowingfemale motorists would promote gender mixing and promiscuity.
Sherif said she faced abuse from men in her neighbourhood soon after shebegan driving in a bid to ease her financial pressures.
“Half of my salary of 4,000 riyals ($1,067) was spent on a driver to takeme to my workplace and drive my elderly parents,” Sherif told thepro-government daily Okaz.
“But from the first day of driving I was subjected to insults from men.”
Sherif received an outpouring of support from Saudis on social media, withmany posting pictures of her burning vehicle and denouncing the attack as a“terrorist act”.
Local reports did not say whether her car was insured.
Authorities have sought to show the driving reform had religious approval,with the kingdom’s top clerical council emphasising the lifting of the banwas in line with Islamic values.
But many are still wary of a backlash from hardliners, amid a torrent ofsexist comments against women drivers on social media.
Many women say they are staying off the streets, testing reactions in asociety torn between conservatism and a modernisation drive launched byCrown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.
Some 120,000 women have applied for driving licences, according to aninterior ministry spokesman, but it remains unclear how many have beenissued.
For now, the women taking to the roads appear mainly to be those who haveswapped foreign licences for Saudi ones. – APP/AFP