Bahrain: Activists demand Bahrain reintroduce driving ban on fully covered women

MANAMA — Activists in Bahrain, citing security and safety reasons, want the government to re-introduce the ban on fully covered women from driving.

Abdullah Al Ayobi, an activist and writer, said that Bahrain is the only country in the world that allows unidentified individuals to drive and that could lead to many dangerous circumstances such as crimes.

Women covering their faces were allowed to drive after the establishment of the parliament in 2002 as MPs pressured the government to allow women to lead normal lifestyles. However, Al Ayobi feels that criminals could fully cover themselves and commit crimes before speeding away from the scene without being noticed by the authority or the public.

He also warned that underage boys and girls could cover their faces and drive in public roads after stealing their parents’ vehicles and put their’s and other people’s lives in danger. “I’m not against religious ladies as Bahrain is a free country and there is no dressing code in the Kingdom, but the safety and security of the country should come first,” Al Ayobi said.

He said that it wasn’t too late to reconsider the decision as admitting the fault was better than continuing with it.

When the government approved the decision, it imposed certain restrictions such as ladies have to cooperate with traffic men by presenting their licences or other documents required to avoid facing legal charges.

In rare cases, the traffic authority might demand to see the face of the lady drivers to make sure of their identities.

Before the Cabinet decision, fully covered women needed to take off their veil while driving to avoid getting traffic fine.

The government’s hesitation in the beginning to allow fully covered women to drive was out of fear that terrorists might cover their faces and drive cars to perform terror acts or in case of accident the identity of driver couldn’t be known as the face of the driver would be covered.