Saudi Authorities Block Women Driving Websites
Saudi Arabia not only prohibits women from driving, it also blocks websites which call for them to drive.
On September 21st, Saudi women activists launched the October 26th Campaign website which had a declaration calling for lifting the ban on women driving in the absolute Saudi monarchy. On September 29th, the authorities blocked the website without providing any explanation (they almost never provide any), but the declaration had had over 13,000 signatures before the blockage was imposed:
Oct 26th Women Driving Campaign Blocked in Saudi تم حجب صفحة #قيادة_26اكتوبر http://t.co/vHOmyPY9Ey
— EmanAlNafjanأم شادن (@Saudiwoman) September 29, 2013
Activists shortly launched a mirror website to circumvent censorship:
الان حتى موقع http://t.co/8WrfejrKzU اصبح فعال وبإمكانك التوقيع هناك! #قيادة_26اكتوبر We created another site instead of the blocked one!
— EmanAlNafjanأم شادن (@Saudiwoman) October 2, 2013
The standard blocking message shown in place of oct26driving.com and oct26driving.org.
On October 7th, the authorities blocked the mirror website as well:
Now the mirror site for the Oct26 Women Driving campaign that was created after original was blocked by gov is blocked too!
— EmanAlNafjanأم شادن (@Saudiwoman) October 7, 2013
The top Saudi government officials have always insisted, especially when they are talking to the Western media, that they are merely waiting for the society to accept women driving. Such actions show the active role that the government is playing in restricting women's movement.