Saudis halt lashing sentence of woman driver

[mlr52]

Saudi Arabia's King Abdullah has put a stop to the lashing of a woman who defied the kingdom's ban on female drivers, a government official said.

The official declined to elaborate. He spoke Wednesday on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to brief the media.



"Thank God, the lashing of Shaima is cancelled. Thanks to our beloved King," Saudi Princess Ameerah Al-Taweel posted on her Twitter account Wednesday. "I'm sure all Saudi women will be so happy,I know I am."

Full story
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/44705707.../#.ToeJcrJwy8A

[RandallS]

Saudi Arabia's King Abdullah has put a stop to the lashing of a woman who defied the kingdom's ban on female drivers, a government official said.

Perhaps King Abdullah is going to slowly drag his country away from the ultra-conservative religious views that have dominated it. One can hope.

[Melamphoros]

Perhaps King Abdullah is going to slowly drag his country away from the ultra-conservative religious views that have dominated it. One can hope.

Maybe he was switched out with some alien pod-person? Maybe he got hit in the head and it caused a personality change? Or maybe he was never that conservative and he finally got a backbone?

Either way, it is a welcome change.

[RandallS]

Or maybe he was never that conservative and he finally got a backbone?

I suspect "got a backbone" is a large part of it.

[Melamphoros]

I suspect "got a backbone" is a large part of it.

Although who knows how long it would last. Abdullah is almost ninety and who knows what his designated successor's (his half-brother, iirc) stance on women's rights is.

[Darkhawk]

Perhaps King Abdullah is going to slowly drag his country away from the ultra-conservative religious views that have dominated it. One can hope.

This is fascinating. It's my understanding that the House of Saud has a tacit agreement with the Wahabbi sect to promote it as the state religion, and in return the Wahabbis keep the House of Saud in power, more or less.

If that deal has potential to change....