The new campaign pushing for the right for women to drive in Saudi Arabia has attracted a great deal of response and Saudi women will continue to express their discontent on the ban by driving cars, posting videos and photos of them doing so, online via Facebook and Twitter. They also had launched a website, http://www.oct26driving.com/, which was hacked before the 26th. It is still in a hacked state and shows a writing in Arabic which translates to “Reason for the hacking: I am against women driving in the land of the two holy shrines,” according to Reuters.
Before being hacked, the online portal received thumbs-up from over 15,500 women and men who have already signed this petition on the campaign website. The hacked website now plays the spoof video by Hisham Fageeh, a known personality on YouTube, thanks to his funny sense of humor. He has spoofed Bob Marley’s “No woman’ no cry”, to “No woman, no drive”, and you can see the video below. The video has been a hit, and has over 3.1 million views in two days.
The ban by the Saudi Government, women activists say is unjustified as it prohibits adult women citizens from driving their cars. A particular female blogger and her friend who were repeatedly defying the ban were detained in Riyadh on Thursday when one friend was caught filming the other at the wheel. Both ladies were stopped by the police though they were released later. The two friends were appealing to other Saudi women to upload videos of themselves driving in the country in protest of the ban.
Saudi women drivers are not forbidden to drive by law, but by religious edicts that claim that women should not drive as it could cause permanent damage to ovaries as the pelvis is pushed upwards.
