Saudi Arabia has issued its first driving licences to women as the kingdom prepares to lift the world's only ban on women driving in three weeks.
However, some who campaigned for the right to drive remain under arrest.
A government statement said the 10 women who were issued licences already held driving licences from other countries, including the US, UK, Lebanon and Canada.
The women took a brief driving test and underwent an eye exam before being issued the licences at the department of traffic in the capital Riyadh.
International media were not present for the event.
Other women across the country have been preparing for the right to drive, due to come into force on June 24th, by taking driving courses on female-only college campuses.
Some are even training to become drivers for ride-hailing companies like Uber.
Saudi women had long complained of having to hire costly male drivers, use taxis or rely on male relatives to get to work and run errands.
The surprise move to issue some licences for women early came as activists who had campaigned for the right to drive remain under arrest, facing possible trial.
Saudi Arabia’s prosecutor said on Sunday that 17 people had been detained in recent weeks on suspicion of trying to undermine security and stability, a crackdown which activists said targeted prominent women’s rights campaigners.
The prosecutor’s statement said eight have been temporarily released, while five men and four women remain under arrest.
Among the women held since May 15th are Loujain al-Hathloul, Aziza al-Yousef and Eman al-Nafjan, according to people with knowledge of the arrests.
The three are among the most outspoken and well-known women’s rights activists in Saudi Arabia.
The three risked arrest by pushing for years for the right to drive. They have also called for an end to guardianship laws that give male relatives final say over a woman marrying or travelling abroad.
Civil rights push
Their activism has been seen as part of a larger democratic and civil rights push in the kingdom.
They now face a range of charges, including communicating with people and organisations hostile to the kingdom and providing financial and moral support to hostile elements abroad.
State-linked media have referred to the group as “foreign embassy agents” and branded them traitors.
Three other veteran women’s rights activists were briefly detained at the onset of the sweep. In 1990 they had taken part in the first protest against the kingdom’s ban on women driving.
While Saudi law has never explicitly banned women from driving, women were not issued driving licences.
Often, police would detain a female driver until a male relative could pick her up and sign a pledge on her behalf that she would not drive again.
Ultraconservatives in the kingdom viewed women driving as immoral and warned women would be subject to sexual harassment if they drove.
Just four years ago, the country’s top cleric, Grand Mufti Abdulaziz al-Sheikh, said barring women from driving “was in the best interest of society” because it protected them from having to deal with an accident.
However, the kingdom currently faces steep economic challenges and has a burgeoning young population that has access to the world through the internet and sees women in neighbouring Muslim countries driving freely.
To boost the economy and ease international criticism, Saudi Arabia’s 32-year-old Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman has been promoting changes such as allowing women to drive, all while risking backlash from clerics and others who adhere to the ultraconservative Wahhabi interpretation of Islam.
The prince has also attempted to appeal to young Saudis by opening the country to more entertainment, allowing music concerts and for the opening of the kingdom’s first commercial movie theatre this year.
However, rights groups say the arrest of activists by the prince’s security forces are an attempt to silence dissent as women prepare to drive for the first time, and may be a way to freeze any calls for greater reforms. – AP