LONDON -- Saudi billionaire Prince Alwaleed bin Talal has said it is time for Saudi women to get behind the wheel, calling a ban on female drivers in the kingdom an infringement of women's rights.
Saudi Arabia is the only country to bar women from driving and requires them to have a male "guardian" who can stop them travelling, marrying, working or having some medical procedures.
"Preventing a woman from driving a car is today an issue of rights similar to the one that forbade her from receiving an education or having an independent identity," said the business magnate in a statement.
"They are all unjust acts by a traditional society, far more restrictive than what is lawfully allowed by the precepts of religion," Prince Alwaleed said.