Saudi's King Abdullah saves woman from lashing

Saudi’s King Abdullah has overturned the punishment meted out to a woman for defying the country’s law on driving.

The woman, Shaima Jastaina, was sentenced to be lashed 10 times for driving without permission in Jeddah in July.

There is no official confirmation of the ruling; however, Princess Amira al-Taweel, wife of Saudi Pince Alwaheed bin Talal, tweeted: "Thank God, the lashing of [Shaima] is cancelled. Thanks to our beloved king. I am sure all Saudi women will be so happy, I know I am."

UK newspaper The Guardian reported that the Princess and her husband had spoken to Shaimam, who told them, "The king's orders washed the fears I lived with after this unjust sentence."

Two days after King Abdullah gave the fairer sex right to vote, Shaima Jastaina was sentenced to be lashed 10 times for defying the kingdom's ban on female drivers.

This was the first-ever crackdown on woman drivers as normally police stop them to caution them and then make them sign a pledge that would not to do so again, before letting them go.

The paper said the sentence came more of a shock as recently women in droves had begun to take to the roads in a campaign to break the taboo.

The shocking sentence comes soon after the Saudi King, in a bold move, decreed that women would be given voting rights in municipal elections to be held in 2015.

Women- both from Saudi and foreign- are banned from driving in Saudi Arabia, the only country to do so.