<div align="justify">A Sydney-based Saudi rights activist who led a campaign for women to drive in the conservative kingdom today vowed to return and become one of the first to legally get behind the wheel.<br /><br />Manal al-Sharif was imprisoned for nine days after posting a video of herself on YouTube and Facebook driving her car around the eastern city of Khobar in 2011 at the height of the "Women2Drive" protest movement.<br /><br />She said King Salman's historic decree this week allowing women to drive from next June brought her to tears.<br /><br />"I can't describe the joy I am feeling. This is a truly historic day," she told The Australian newspaper.<br /><br />"I'm being honest. I just cried. There had been rumours but you never dare believe them."<br /><br />Saudi Arabia was the only country in the world to ban women driving, and it was seen globally as a symbol of repression in the Gulf kingdom.<br /><br />The king's decree is part of an ambitious reform push that runs the risk of a backlash from religious hardliners.<br /><br />"I'm going back, I'm going to drive -- legally!" said al-Sharif, who came to Australia after she was released from jail for the crime of "driving while female".<br /><br />"My car is still there, the one I drove. I refused to give it up. My family kept it for me. But I will drive legally this time."<br /><br />Despite the breakthrough that won plaudits internationally and from inside Saudi Arabia, she refused to take any credit, saying: "No, no, it wasn't me, it was everyone doing everything."<br /><br />Al-Sharif, 38, has long campaigned for women's rights in Saudi Arabia and this year published a memoir "Daring To Drive", which became a worldwide bestseller.<br /><br />In an opinion piece for The New York Times in June, she recounted how she narrowly avoided a public whipping for her driving exploits.<br /><br />"I was threatened -- imams wanted me to be publicly lashed -- and monitored and harassed," she wrote. "I was pushed out of my job. After that, I had to move from my home.<br /><br />"Without a safe place to work or live, with other Saudis calling for my death, I had no choice but to leave the only country I had ever known."<br /><br />She added: "I had driven with the hope of freeing women in Saudi society -- and by freeing women, I also hoped to free men."<br /><br />Saudi Arabia has some of the world's tightest restrictions on women.<br /><br />Under the country's guardianship system, a male family member -- normally the father, husband or brother -- must grant permission for a woman's study, travel and other activities.<br /><br />It was unclear whether women would require their guardian's permission to apply for driving licences.</div>
<div align="justify">A Sydney-based Saudi rights activist who led a campaign for women to drive in the conservative kingdom today vowed to return and become one of the first to legally get behind the wheel.<br /><br />Manal al-Sharif was imprisoned for nine days after posting a video of herself on YouTube and Facebook driving her car around the eastern city of Khobar in 2011 at the height of the "Women2Drive" protest movement.<br /><br />She said King Salman's historic decree this week allowing women to drive from next June brought her to tears.<br /><br />"I can't describe the joy I am feeling. This is a truly historic day," she told The Australian newspaper.<br /><br />"I'm being honest. I just cried. There had been rumours but you never dare believe them."<br /><br />Saudi Arabia was the only country in the world to ban women driving, and it was seen globally as a symbol of repression in the Gulf kingdom.<br /><br />The king's decree is part of an ambitious reform push that runs the risk of a backlash from religious hardliners.<br /><br />"I'm going back, I'm going to drive -- legally!" said al-Sharif, who came to Australia after she was released from jail for the crime of "driving while female".<br /><br />"My car is still there, the one I drove. I refused to give it up. My family kept it for me. But I will drive legally this time."<br /><br />Despite the breakthrough that won plaudits internationally and from inside Saudi Arabia, she refused to take any credit, saying: "No, no, it wasn't me, it was everyone doing everything."<br /><br />Al-Sharif, 38, has long campaigned for women's rights in Saudi Arabia and this year published a memoir "Daring To Drive", which became a worldwide bestseller.<br /><br />In an opinion piece for The New York Times in June, she recounted how she narrowly avoided a public whipping for her driving exploits.<br /><br />"I was threatened -- imams wanted me to be publicly lashed -- and monitored and harassed," she wrote. "I was pushed out of my job. After that, I had to move from my home.<br /><br />"Without a safe place to work or live, with other Saudis calling for my death, I had no choice but to leave the only country I had ever known."<br /><br />She added: "I had driven with the hope of freeing women in Saudi society -- and by freeing women, I also hoped to free men."<br /><br />Saudi Arabia has some of the world's tightest restrictions on women.<br /><br />Under the country's guardianship system, a male family member -- normally the father, husband or brother -- must grant permission for a woman's study, travel and other activities.<br /><br />It was unclear whether women would require their guardian's permission to apply for driving licences.</div>