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Activists protest against Saudi Arabia's ban on women drivers outside the Saudi embassy in Kiev in June. AP Photo/Sergei Chuzavkov/PA Images
Women drivers
Allowing Saudi women to drive will encourage them to have sex before marriage: report
Conservative academic’s report was sent to the all-male council which advises the Saudi monarchy.
A SAUDI rights activist says a report given to a high-level advisory group claims that women in the kingdom will have options for premarital sex if allowed to drive.
The ultraconservative stance suggests increasing pressure on King Abdullah to retain the kingdom’s male-only driving rules.
Rights activist Waleed Abu Alkhair said today that the document by a well-known academic was sent to the all-male Shura Council, which advises the monarchy.
The report by Kamal Subhi claims that allowing women to drive will threaten the country’s traditions of virgin brides, he said.
Saudi women have staged several protests defying the driving ban. The king has already promised some reforms, including allowing women to vote in municipal elections in 2015.
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