"I have been communicating with his family, Jastaniah will fight the verdict," said activist Samar Badawi, as quoted from the pages of the Guardian.
The ban has forced some families to hire a driver for daily mobility. However, for those who do not have enough money to pay the driver, they usually just rely on husbands or male of the immediate family to drive to work, school, market, or hospital.
There was no written law that prohibits a woman driving a car. The ban stems from the tradition of conservative and religious views that let women have the freedom of movement is a grave sin.
According to Islamic law in Saudi, women are only permitted to travel without the permission of her husband, be it for work, out of the country, or even perform surgery.
Based on the law's interpretation appears that women are not allowed to drive alone. To enforce this law, the Saudi government has never issued a license to women. Consequently, every woman who was behind the wheel is automatically illegal.
Some activists say that the justification of religion is irrelevant. "How could she get such a punishment, while the maximum penalty for violation of traffic fines only, not the lash," said Zein el-Abydeen, one of the activists.
Jastaniah is the first woman to receive the verdict of the whip because driving a car. Previously, a woman who was caught driving on a highway just got a got a warning of sanctions or fines. Otoritas seems to tighten punishment because more women are reckless driving after dozens woman mendobrak campaign rally this tradition, since last June.
The initiator of the campaign, Manal al-Sherif, and even upload video to Facebook, which shows him driving a car on the highway. After being detained for 10 days, he was eventually freed by signing a letter of agreement will not drive the car again and would not speak to the media.
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