From California, A Saudi Woman Fights Her Country's Strict Male Guardianship Laws
"I came from a very strict country to a very free country," says Samah Damanhoori. The 29-year-old cut ties with her family after her father canceled his initial approval for her to study in the U.S.
When Saudi Arabia started allowing women to drive last month — a historic shift in the last country in the world to ban women from getting behind the wheel — Samah Damanhoori was watching closely from California. The 29-year-old Saudi woman has a lot at stake.
Just a few weeks before the ban was lifted on what was officially known as "Driving Day," June 24, Saudi security officials jailed more than a dozen women activists, some of whom have advocated for the right to drive since the 1990s. In what
