Detained Saudi female driver freed

Saudi police freed a local female activist who was detained after she was seized driving a car in the Gulf Kingdom, a newspaper said on Thursday.

Najla Hariri, a well know social activist in the world’s largest oil exporter, was caught driving in the western Red Sea port of Jeddah on Wednesday night and taken to the police centre for interrogation, Sharq said.

Police later decided to release Hariri after her husband came to the centre and signed papers before he was handed over his wife and the car.

“They stopped me and put me in the back seat…a police man drove my car to the centre,” Hariri was quoted as saying.

“They let me out when my husband came and signed papers…I did not sign any statement not to drive again nor did I pay any bail.”

Driving cars by women is banned in conservative Saudi Arabia but local women have intensified a campaign over the past few weeks to defy the ban.

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