Man, two teenage girls held for driving in Saudi

Saudi Arabia’s Islamic police arrested a man and two teenage girls caught driving near a park in the Gulf Kingdom, a newspaper said on Monday.

 

Surprised visitors at the park phoned the Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice after they saw the two girls exchanging seats and driving the car with the help of a man who was in the back seat.

 

A Commission patrol rushed to the park in the western town of Makkah and arrested the man and the two girls, aged 14 and 16 years, Alsaudi daily said.

 

Driving by women is banned in Saudi Arabia, one of the most conservative Moslem nations. Several women have been arrested in the Gulf Kingdom over the past weeks for driving cars on key roads as part of an intensifying female campaign to end the long-standing ban.