U.S. Refuses to Condemn Detention of Saudi Women Drivers

Activists launch Change.org campaign after State Department spokesperson refuses to condemn the detentions of women for driving in Saudi Arabia.

Women’s rights activists are up in arms after the U.S. State Department refused to condemn the detention of Saudi women arrested and detained for driving.

Mark C. Toner, a State Department spokesperson, was repeatedly questioned during a State Department briefing on Thursday about the United States’ position on the arrest and detention of a number of Saudi women for driving earlier this week. In response, Mr. Toner refused to condemn such detentions, depicting the arrests as an internal issue.

When a reporter asked “What do you make of the fact that the Saudi religious police are running around, plucking women out of cars?” the State Department spokesperson replied by framing the issue as “an internal matter for Saudi Arabia.”

When a reporter asked “Do you think that it’s a good thing that the Saudi religious police are taking women out of cars when they’re driving and arresting them?” the State Department spokesperson replied “This is an issue that Saudi Arabians are grappling with.”

Finally, when a reporter asked “You won’t come out and say that it’s a bad thing for the religious police to be detaining women who are driving?” the spokesperson replied. “I’ve given you the details as I know them, which is that they were detained and then later released. They were never formally charged. So I don’t want to pump too much air into this.”

“Well, you may have by your answer,” said the reporter to laughter.

Support Saudi Women, a U.S. based group set up to build solidarity with the recent growth of numerous Saudi women’s right to drive campaigns, has responded with a petition on Change.org calling on the State Department to condemn the detention of women drivers.

“Does it make sense to anyone that the representative of the United States to the outside world has nothing to say when asked if arresting women for driving is wrong?” said Support Saudi Women in a statement. “This is an embarrassment to our country and an offense to women. It needs to be corrected immediately.”

Saudi Arabian police arrested and detained five women for driving on Tuesday for the first time since dozens of women began testing the ban on driving on June 17. Four of the women are known to have been released, while the status of the fifth woman is not clear.

The incidents mark a significant departure from the hands-off approach Saudi police have taken since women’s rights activists launched a nationwide right-to-drive campaign on June 17.

The arrest of Manal Al-Sharif, a Saudi mother jailed for driving her own car in late May, sparked a massive international outcry and inspired dozens of women across the country to simply start driving.

Saudi women have since launched a series of viral international campaigns on Change.org, including two successful campaigns to pressure U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and her E.U. counterpart Catherine Ashton to publicly support Saudi women’s right to drive. After initially refusing to make a public statement, Secretary Clinton agreed to do so two hours after reading an open letter from Saudi women and delivered by Change.org in which they reject the State Department’s “quiet diplomacy.” Saudi women have just launched a new campaign on Change.org calling on car manufacturer Subaru to pull out of Saudi Arabia until women are given the right to drive.

“The level of collaboration between women’s rights activists in Saudi Arabia and the U.S. has been so encouraging to see,” said Change.org’s Human Rights Editor Benjamin Joffe-Walt. “As Saudi women launch a series of campaigns demanding the solidarity of everyone from car companies to celebrities to politicians, U.S. based women’s rights activists are organizing to support Saudi women in whatever meaningful way they can. Change.org is about empowering anyone, anywhere to make an impact on the issues they care about and it is an honor to provide a platform for these campaigns.”

Selections from the State Department briefing:

QUESTION: Yesterday, you were asked about the reports that these Saudi – more Saudi women drivers had been
MR. TONER: Right.
QUESTION: -- arrested. You said the Embassy in Riyadh was checking into it. Twenty-four hours have passed. I’m sure that they’ve looked into it now, given you – reported back to you with the –
MR. TONER: They have, right.
QUESTION: What did they find out?
MR. TONER: Sorry, I didn’t mean to cut you off. Finish your – (laughter) --
QUESTION: What did they say? And given the Secretary’s personal interest in this issue, what do you have to say about it?
MR. TONER: Well, our Embassy did look into it. Apparently, these individuals, these women were detained but not ever charged, and later released. And my understanding as well is that this is something that was done by the Saudi religious police and not the regular or national police force. And --
QUESTION: So that makes it --
MR. TONER: No, I’m not saying that. I’m just saying that they were never formally charged. That’s our understanding. And just – the Secretary spoke to this, I guess, last week, and subsequently, we’ve reiterated her essential point that this is something that is homegrown, if you will. This is the women of Saudi Arabia speaking up for their rights, and as such, it’s an important thing.
QUESTION: Well, what do you make of the fact that the Saudi religious police are running around, plucking women out of cars?
MR. TONER: Look, this is an internal matter for Saudi Arabia, but this is something that we’ve expressed solidarity with, the Secretary’s expressed solidarity with these women who are standing up for their rights. It’s something we have raised with the Saudi Government as well.
QUESTION: Yeah, and you raised it more than two weeks ago, and just – and after you raised it, they started arresting people again, whether or not they were --
MR. TONER: There’s --
QUESTION: -- charged or detained, so is that a good thing or is it --
MR. TONER: And there’s clearly a debate within Saudi Arabia, within Saudi Arabian society about --
QUESTION: Well, do you think that it --
MR. TONER: -- this issue among other issues as well.
QUESTION: Do you think that it’s a good thing that the Saudi religious police are taking women out of cars when they’re driving and arresting them?
MR. TONER: Again, this is an issue that Saudi Arabians are grappling with. This – it’s important to note that this is not about the U.S. or the West imposing their values on Saudi Arabia. This is about Saudi Arabian women, Saudi women, standing up for their rights, asking to be heard, asking for this fundamental right. And this isn’t necessarily going to be an easy process. We’re supportive of this. But this is essentially a Saudi process.
QUESTION: Well, Mark, when police in countries around the world go around and arrest people that you don’t think should be arrested --
MR. TONER: Again, they weren’t formally arrested or – they were detained.
QUESTION: Well, they were detained.
MR. TONER: They were then released, so let’s not --
QUESTION: So then what’s your – when other countries’ authorities, whether it’s the religious police or the regular police, arrest people or detain people for things that you don’t think they should be detained for, you speak out about it.
MR. TONER: And again, in this case, we would – I would just say that these women are standing up for their rights, and this is a debate that’s going on in Saudi Arabia right now. These – there’s going to be these kinds of events that take place along the way, but clearly, these women have embarked on a path here for greater rights, and we support that.
QUESTION: I guess I don’t understand – I guess – as you say, you support it, but you won’t come out and say that it’s a bad thing for the religious police to be detaining women who are driving?
MR. TONER: Again, I’ve given you the details as I know them, which is that they were detained and then later released. They were never formally charged. So I don’t want to pump too much air into this.
QUESTION: Well, you may have – (laughter) – by your answer.