Saudi activist: Woman driver freed from detention [View All]

[Newsjock]

Source: Associated Press

A Saudi woman detained for defying the ultraconservative kingdom's ban on female drivers was released Monday after growing international pressure for her freedom, a rights activist said.

The 32-year-old woman, Manal al-Sherif, became the center of a growing Internet campaign that also served to draw attention to plans for a June 17 rally calling for a mass driving protest to challenge the restriction.

The Saudi activist, Waleed Aboul Khair, credited al-Sherif's release on "pressure from inside and outside" Saudi Arabia, which follows an austere brand of Islam known as Wahhabism that is enforced by morality police.

... The reason for the early release was not announced by authorities, but Aboul Khair said al-Sherif signed an agreement not to attempt to drive again or speak to reporters.

Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2011/05/30/international/i101109D39.DTL&tsp=1