Saudi woman's car set ablaze after driving ban lifted

Saudi police are hunting for arsonists who torched a woman's car, only a week after the kingdom lifted a decades-long ban on female motorists.

Salma al-Sherif, a 31-year-old cashier based near the holy city of Mecca, told local media that her car had been deliberately set alight this week by men "opposed to women drivers".

"The incident is being investigated by security officials," Mecca police said in a statement released late yesterday by local authorities. "We are searching for the culprits."
"Half of my salary of 4,000 riyals ($1,067) was spent on a driver to take me to my workplace and drive my elderly parents," Sherif told the pro-government daily Okaz. "But from the first day of driving I was subjected to insults from men."