Saudi Arabian men have launched a Facebook campaign in response to women planning a protest against the law that bans them from driving in the ultra-conservative nation.
The page titled ‘The Iqal Campaign: June 17, for preventing women from driving’, refers to the Arabic name for the cord used to hold in place the traditional headdress worn by many men in the Gulf, advocating the same to be used to whip women who dare to drive. It has drawn over 6,000 ‘likes’ on the social networking website.
According to The Daily Mail, some individuals on the page have proposed distributing boxes of Iqals to youths and one even joked about the price of Iqals rising due to increased demand. Earlier, a Facebook page was set up encouraging women to take to their cars and drive on June 17. It came after a 37-year old Saudi woman, Manal al-Sharif, was jailed for defying the ban.
A page titled ‘We are all Manal al-Sharif: a call for solidarity with Saudi women’s rights’, has been growing in popularity. A post on the page says, "It is not a revolution, it is not a plot, it is not a gathering and it is not a protest-we are only requesting to drive our cars”.
