A campaign on Facebook is calling for Saudi men to beat women who plan to drive cars in a protest next month, AFP reports.

"The Iqal Campaign: June 17 for preventing women from driving" advocates a cord be used to beat women who plan to drive. Women are not allowed to drive in Saudi Arabia.

Some 6,000 people have "liked" the campaign on Facebook.

It was created in response to female activist Manal al-Sharif, who created a page calling for Saudi women to defy the driving ban on June 17.

The Facebook page, called "Teach me how to drive so I can protect myself," was removed after more than 12,000 people indicated their support. The campaign's Twitter account also was deactivated.


Saudi Arabia is the only country in the world that bans women — both Saudi and foreign — from driving. The prohibition forces families to hire live-in drivers, and those who cannot afford the $300 to $400 a month for a driver must rely on male relatives to drive them to work, school, shopping or the doctor.

The issue is a highly emotional one in the kingdom, where women are also not allowed to vote, or even travel without their husbands' or fathers' permission.

About 800 Saudi people have signed a petition urging Saudi King Abdullah to release al-Sherif and to make a clear statement on women's right to drive.

"We are fed up," Waleed Aboul Khair, a lawyer and rights activists said. "Be frank," he said, addressing the country's rulers. "For the first time in the history of the kingdom, we have hundreds of people calling for the king to be frank."

"The society has moved. The society is not silent anymore," Aboul Khair said.

There is no written Saudi law banning women from driving, only fatwas, or religious edicts, by senior clerics that are enforced by police. King Abdullah has promised reforms in the past and has taken some tentative steps to ease restrictions on women. But the Saudi monarchy relies on Wahhabi clerics to give religious legitimacy to its rule and is deeply reluctant to defy their entrenched power.

Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/world/2011/05/25/saudi-facebook-campaign-calls-men-beat-women-drivers/#ixzz1NPBFangl

More from the Religion of peace and tolorance. They are nothing but animals.

so ironic, from a culture which would condone 'BEATING THE CRAP' out of someone who burns a flag,,,


whats symbolically important from one culture to the next might change, but their barbaric reaction to offenses apparently doesnt

They should teach the women to drive and shoot.

Your comparison in "degrees of barbarity" is hardly compelling.

A "culture" which would condone.. The entire culture? Part of it? A few random fringe elements?

You realize that flag burning here is legal, right?

Women driving in Saudi Arabia is illegal..

Do we chop off the hands of thieves?

Chop off the heads of drug dealers?

Is adultery illegal and punishable by death?

Are honor killings accepted practice?


A compendium of barbarity and justified retribution?

Do we chop off the wieners of rapists? (Actually, I agree with that one)

I Wasnt speaking of any compendium, actually

I was only referring to the hypocrisy in THIS CASE of calling out people for wanting to beat a woman who drives when the person in question would want to beat the crap out of someone for burning a flag


as to the legality of it, that is another matter which also doesnt make the judgement mentioned previously any less hypocritical

is this thread about the penalty for raping or the penatly for driving illegally?

I think we also have different standards for the two offenses...

Nice. Lovely.

we all know how women drivers are ... maybe womens lib is overrated anyway...

lol, thats kind of funny,,,haaa

I wouldnt want to not be able to drive because I am required to work and take care of my children which requires travel that I Cant always depend upon someone else for

we have different cultures and different priorities , but I still would call any physical assault on another person a sad indication of the decline of the humanity of the assaulter(whether legal or not)

it sounds like to me that as long as your ok, and you can drive, wear what you want, talk back to men, go out in public without a man, not getting beat for something like a dinner being late, your sisters over there have their own problems... out of sight, out of mind, huh...

This thread is about the many human rights voilations of Islam, and how we need to hold Saudi Arabia to task.

nope, its more accurate to state that it is not my place to define someone elses CULTURE for them

my culture permits/encourages me, as a woman, to be 'sexy', to dress in revealing manners, to dance suggestively,, if I so choose

IM sure women there wish to 'liberate' us wordly types in the west from our 'offensive' behavior brought on by western 'brainwashing'

but if the majority here are FINE with that lifestyle, it isnt their place to try and change it, and if enough of us ARENT fine, than we should be voting to change it instead of looking for outsiders too

if there becomes a majority there who want to change that part of their culture, I advocate and support THEIR efforts to do something about it,,,

but its not MY PLACE to judge a culture that a majority is choosing

oh, and I thought it was an expression of outrage that women should be beaten for driving, since that was SPECIFICALLY what the OP story was pertaining to,,,

Another sad day for women who live in that part of the world. I hope future generations will change such laws and mentalities to ensure women can enjoy life just as much as the men can.

I want to mention that not all Muslim countries are so radical. If we look at Turkey we don't have such laws and the women drive cars over there. Each country is different when it comes to the rights for women. I hope they will change in the future to where women have the same rights as men one day.

like i said, out of site, out of mind...

it's to tell what the majority of women there want, because the men tell them what to say... i know it is hard for you to understand, but women have NO rights there... none, zero... there are goats and chickens that are better off then the women there... they are treated worse than slaves ever were...

It's an expressions of outrage how women are treated in general in Islam. This is just another fine example how it is a religion of human rights violations and abuses.

agreed, but Saudi Arabia is arguably the worst of them all...

Maybe just spank them a little.