DHAKA: Police in Saudi Arabia said that they have arrested 12 women for challenging the ban on driving.

Five of the women drivers were apprehended in the capital Riyadh, five in the Eastern Province, three in Ahsa and two in Dammam, and two in the Red Sea city of Jeddah.

The police said, local daily Al Eqtisadiya reported on Sunday, reports gulfnews.com.

The two women in Jeddah were 50 years old and one of them was accompanied by her 14-year-old son, they added.

Although there is no specific law in Saudi Arabia that bans women from driving, women are not issued licences.

An online petition campaign was launched in September to encourage women to drive throughout the kingdom on October 26.

The interior ministry last week warned it would adopt a zero tolerance policy towards those who challenged the ban.

Activists said that the campaign to allow women to drive ‘has succeeded’, but insisted that they never called for the use of specific schools in Riyadh as the point of assembly for women to start their cars, the daily said.

BDST: 1647 HRS, OCT 27, 2013
RoR/SRS