JEDDAH – Saudi authorities decided Monday to free on bail
Manal al-Sharif, who was detained for 10 days for breaking the
ultra-conservative kingdom’s ban on women driving, her lawyer said.

“We were informed today of the decision to free Manal
on bail. The procedural steps towards her release are under way,” Adnan
al-Saleh said, adding that he hoped the case would now be closed.

Sharif had called upon King Abdullah to release her, Saleh
said on Sunday after meeting his client in prison.

Manal al-Sharif was released on bond on Monday after she pledged to King Abdullah in a letter that she will not drive again.

Sharif, a 32-year-old computer-security consultant, was
arrested on May 22 after posting on YouTube a video of herself driving her car
around the eastern Saudi city of Khobar. She has promised not to do it again in
a letter to Abdullah.

The divorced mother of one explained in the video that
getting around was often a headache. Women in Saudi Arabia without the means to
hire a chauffeur must depend upon the goodwill of male family members to drive
them.

A petition calling for Sharif’s release had by Monday
garnered 3,345 signatures.

Addressed to King Abdullah, it demanded her release
“pending a clear decision on the question of the right of women to
drive” in the kingdom.

A Facebook page titled “We are all Manal al-Sharif: a
call for solidarity with Saudi women’s rights,” on Sunday had over 24,000
supporters.

However, another Facebook page called on men to use
“iqals” — the cords used with traditional headdresses by many Gulf
men — to beat Saudi women who drive their cars in a planned June 17 protest
against the kingdom’s ban on women taking the wheel.