Saudi Arabia 'arrests Kuwaiti woman for driving diabetic father to hospital'

Kuwait Times reports that woman had been driving just over the border in Saudi Arabia when she was stopped by police

The Guardian, Reuters in Kuwait, Sunday 3 November 2013

The arrest comes a week after Saudi women got behind the wheel to protests
against the kingdom's ban on female drivers. Photograph: AP

A Kuwaiti woman was arrested in Saudi Arabia for trying to drive her father to hospital, a Kuwaiti newspaper reported on Sunday, a week after Saudi women protested against a ban on female drivers.

Kuwaiti women are free to drive in their country and enjoy far more rights than those in Saudi Arabia, who are not allowed to travel abroad, open a bank account or work without permission from a male relative.

The English-language Kuwait Times said that the woman had been driving in an area just over the border, with her father in the passenger seat, when she was stopped by police. The woman, who said that her diabetic father could not drive and needed to be taken to hospital for treatment, was being held in custody pending an investigation, the paper said, citing police.

Kuwaiti women gained the right to vote and stand for political office in 2005 after years of campaigning and a push by senior ruling family members.