Tuesday, September 27, 2011

Saudi women will be allowed to vote, but they will not be allowed to drive

"Two days after Saudi King Abdullah's historic decision to allow women to participate in elections, two Saudi women were punished for breaking the ban on female driving: One was sentenced 10 lashes by a court in Jeddah and another was detained in Riyadh."

PS: Every article I've read about this story implies that KSA is a democracy. It's not.

4 comments :

Maury said...

No, not a democracy. They get to vote in municipal elections, which allows voters to pick half of the local council members. The other half are appointed. The councils don't actually have any power, or do much at all. But, I suppose it's progress for a medievel system like KSA.

Mojo, did you see Al Qaida jumping Ahwannajihad's butt over 9/11? It seems they aren't fans of these conspiracy theories.

Iraqi Mojo said...

Yes I saw a clip of the rawstory article. For a second I thought I was reading The Onion!

Iraqi Mojo said...

''The Iranian government has professed on the tongue of its President Ahmadinejad that it does not believe that al-Qaeda was behind 9/11 but rather, the US government,'' read the article, published under the byline Abu Suhail. ''So we may ask the question: why would Iran ascribe to such a ridiculous belief that stands in the face of all logic and evidence?''

Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/world/alqaeda-anger-as-iran-ruins-its-legacy-20110929-1kzf1.html#ixzz1ZP9yN3mn

That's some funny shiite!

David All said...

The decision to let Saudi women vote made my jaw drop in astonishment. ( and yes it did make me wonder if this was a story from The Onion!) The news that Saudi women can still be flogged for driving despite the women getting the right to vote does not make sense. Guess this is a classic case of two steps forward, one step back by the Saudi rulers. Giving women the right to vote is a big reform, but still preventing them from driving is a concession to Saudi conservatives.

Good to see the Saudis hauling Ahmadinejad over the burning coals for his crazy assertion that Al Qaeda was not behind the 9/11 attack.,