Saudi foreign minister says women should drive

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LONDON (Reuters) - Saudi women should be given permission to drive, but it is not up to the government to impose such changes on society, Foreign Minister Saud al-Faisal said on Thursday.

Women are not permitted to drive cars in Saudi Arabia, where conservative Muslim clerics allied to the government wield wide authority.

"Myself, I think they should drive. But (we) are not the ones who decide on that. It has to be the families who decide on that," Prince Saud told Britain's Channel 4 news following a state visit by King Abdullah to London this week.

"For us, it is not a political issue, it is a social issue. We believe that this is something for the families to decide, for the people to decide and not to be forced by the government, either to drive or not to drive."

LONDON (Reuters) - Saudi women should be given permission to drive, but it is not up to the government to impose such changes on society, Foreign Minister Saud al-Faisal said on Thursday.

Women are not permitted to drive cars in Saudi Arabia, where conservative Muslim clerics allied to the government wield wide authority.

"Myself, I think they should drive. But (we) are not the ones who decide on that. It has to be the families who decide on that," Prince Saud told Britain's Channel 4 news following a state visit by King Abdullah to London this week.

"For us, it is not a political issue, it is a social issue. We believe that this is something for the families to decide, for the people to decide and not to be forced by the government, either to drive or not to drive."

The severe restrictions on women's rights in Saudi Arabia were an issue that attracted criticism among opposition politicians and media during Abdullah's visit to Britain.

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Prime Minister Gordon Brown's office said the British government discussed human rights with its guests, but Saud said no such issues came up.

"Human rights is something between a government and its people. We are responsible to our people, what we do to them, and they are the ones who will question us about what rights we guarantee. But we haven't talked as government to government on this issue," he said.

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