Affair of the Saudi Manel El Sherif: a rant against the background of a deep social ease
Manel El Sherif, a young Saudi, has been campaigning for a few days, led on Youtube and Facebook to claim his right to drive cars. She was arrested by her country police on Saturday May 21.
A sign of growing discomfort of Saudi women’s society, the campaign of Manel El Sherif is a rant launched by these women who can no longer live under such repression in a country where they are considered to be subcitoyanne.
The arrest of Manel has created a real controversy within the kingdom where the driving of cars is prohibited for women and remains an act punished by law.
The Saudi women are asking to benefit from the right to drive. And it was Manal who was the symbol and spearhead of this movement. On Facebook, she created a page that she entitled “Teach me to drive so that I can protect myself”. This page asks the Saudi authorities to remove the prohibition to drive. The main reason for this campaign is emergency cases and the impossibility of paying a driver for unarmed families in order to bring the school children back or shop.
But that is without counting on the Saudi religious police, responsible for applying the rules to the letter.
Some Saudi women sent a letter to King Abdallah asking for the young woman’s release and driving authorization for women.
