Back To Top

Saudi woman sentenced to 10 lashes for driving car

CAIRO (AP) -- A Saudi woman was sentenced Tuesday to be lashed 10 times with a whip for defying the kingdom's prohibition on female drivers, the first time a legal punishment has been handed down for a violation of the longtime ban in the ultraconservative Muslim nation.

Normally, police just stop female drivers, question them and let them go after they sign a pledge not to drive again. But dozens of women have continued to take to the roads since June in a campaign to break the taboo.

Making Tuesday's sentence all the more upsetting to activists is that it came just two days after King Abdullah promised to protect women's rights and decreed that women would be allowed to participate in municipal elections in 2015. Abdullah also promised to appoint women to a currently all-male advisory body known as the Shura Council.

The mixed signals highlight the challenge for Abdullah, known as a reformer, in pushing gently for change without antagonizing the powerful clergy and a conservative segment of the population.

Abdullah said he had the backing of the official clerical council. But activists saw Tuesday's sentencing as a retaliation of sorts from the hard-line Saudi religious establishment that controls the courts and oversees the intrusive religious police.

``Our king doesn't deserve that,'' said Sohila Zein el-Abydeen, a prominent female member of the governmental National Society for Human Rights. She burst into tears in a phone interview and said, ``The verdict is shocking to me, but we were expecting this kind of reaction.''

The driver, Shaima Jastaina, in her 30s, was found guilty of driving without permission, activist Samar Badawi said. The punishment is usually carried out within a month. It was not possible to reach Jastaina, but Badawi, in touch with Jastaina's family, said she appealed the verdict.

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.

There are no written laws that restrict women from driving. Rather, the ban is rooted in conservative traditions and religious views that hold giving freedom of movement to women would make them vulnerable to sins.

Activists say the religious justification is irrelevant.

``How come women get flogged for driving while the maximum penalty for a traffic violation is a fine, not lashes?'' Zein el-Abydeen said. ``Even the Prophet (Muhammad's) wives were riding camels and horses because these were the only means of transportation.''

Since June, dozens of women have led a campaign to try to break the taboo and impose a new status quo. The campaign's founder, Manal al-Sherif, who posted a video of herself driving on Facebook, was detained for more than 10 days. She was released after signing a pledge not to drive or speak to media.

Since then, women have been appearing in the streets driving their cars once or twice a week.

Until Tuesday, none had been sentenced by the courts. But recently, several women have been summoned for questioning by the prosecutor general and referred to trial.

One of them, housewife Najalaa al-Harriri, drove only two times, not out of defiance, but out of need, she says.

``I don't have a driver. I needed to drop my son off at school and pick up my daughter from work,'' she said over the phone from the western port city of Jeddah.

``The day the king gave his speech, I was sitting at the prosecutor's office and was asked why I needed to drive, how many times I drove and where,'' she said. She is to stand trial in a month.

After the king's announcement about voting rights for women, Saudi Arabia's Grand Mufti Abdel Aziz Al Sheik blessed the move and said, ``It's for women's good.''

Al-Harriri, who is one of the founders of a women's rights campaign called ``My Right My Dignity,'' said, ``It is strange that I was questioned at a time the mufti himself blessed the king's move.''

Asked if the sentencing will stop women from driving, Maha al-Qahtani, another female activist, said, ``This is our right, whether they like it or not.''

 

<한글기사>

사우디, 운전한 여성에 태형 선고



최근 여성에게 참정권을  주 기로 결정한 사우디아라비아에서 한 여성이 운전을 한 혐의로 태형을 선고받았다.

제다의 한 법원은 지난 7월 운전을 하다 경찰에 적발된 세이마 자스타니아라는 이름의 30대 여성에게 26일(현지시간) 태형 10대를 선고했다고 현지 인권운동가가 2 7일 전했다.

사우디아라비아는 세계에서 유일하게 여성의 운전을 금지하고 있는 나라다.  그 러나 이는 법률상에는 규정돼 있지 않은 보수적 전통에 따른 제약으로, 여성이 운전 을 했다는 이유로 법적인 처벌을 받게된 것은 이번이 처음이다.

일반적으로는 경찰이 운전을 하는 여성을 적발하면 질문을 하고 다시는 운전을 하지 않겠다는 약속에 서명하게 한 뒤 돌려보낸다.

특히 법원의 이번 결정은 압둘라 국왕이 여성에게 투표권을 부여하고  지방선거 에 후보로 참여할 수 있도록 하겠다고 발표한 다음날 나온 것이어서 현지 여성 운동 가들과 국제 인권기구의 반발을 사고 있다.

인권단체 앰네스티 인터내셔널은 성명을 통해 "늦게나마 여성 참정권을 허용한 것은 좋은 일이지만 이동의 자유권을 실행하려 한다는 이유로 태형에 처해진다면 국 왕이 자랑스럽게 알린 개혁은 사실상 무가치한 것"이라고 비판했다.

이번 소식을 전한 현지의 운동가도 "이번 결정에 충격을 받았다"며  자스타니아 가 항소할 예정이라고 전했다. 이날 리야드에서도 한 여권 운동가가 운전을 하다가 붙잡혀 한때 구금됐지만 운 전을 하지 않겠다는 서명을 한 뒤 풀려났다.

 

MOST POPULAR
LATEST NEWS
subscribe
소아쌤