May 23rd, 2011

Manal al-Sharif, the woman who was organizing the “drive-in” protest against the driving ban for women in Saudi Arabia has been arrested. As we reported a few days ago, al-Sharif had begun a campaign called Women2Drive calling women to all come together and drive a car on June 17 in Saudi Arabia. Al-Sharif was arrested on Sunday and jailed for 5 days. She was charged with “spurring women to drive, on the Internet, and inciting public opinion.”

Women2Drive utilized the internet to gain momentum. Their Facebook account had gained over 11,000 likes as of yesterday and was recently deactivated reportedly by the authorities. Their Twitter account is seems too has been deactivated. However a new account Free Manal has just appeared.

Al-Sharif had posted a YouTube video two days ago which has also been removed. However, the video below of her driving and encouraging other women to drive still remains.