 Arab Saudi Saudi women allowed to drive. Barely a week after a senior Saudi cleric said women in the country should not be allowed to drive because they have a quarter the brain power of men, Saudi Arabia's king issued a decree that women will now be able to get a driver's license. The decree said that women would be allowed to drive in accordance with the Islamic laws and a high level committee of ministers has been set up to organize the implementation of the order. Saudi State TV said that the rollout of the changes would take until June 2018. The decision has sparked delight and disbelief among activists in the kingdom, which was the only country in the world to ban women from driving. Madhaui Al Rashid, a Saudi academic, congratulated the women activists in a tweet and wished for political and civil rights and an elected government to follow. She also warned that the decision was aimed at diverting attention from Saudi Arabian human rights abuses, such as the arrest of political dissidents. Lajain Hulthloul, a Saudi activist who was imprisoned for 72 days in the winter of 2014 for attempting to cross the UAE border into Saudi Arabia in her car, tweeted two words, thank God. Hulthloul and another woman activist, Mesa Alamoudi, who was also detained, have been credited with successfully campaigning against the driving ban. Manal Alshari, who started the women to drive campaign in 2011, heralded the change that she saw her country going through.