Just days after Saudi Arabia’s king announced landmark voting reforms for women, female activist Sheima Jastaniah was sentenced to 10 lashes for defying the nation’s ban on driving, according to fellow activists. The ruling is the first of its kind—women have been jailed before for operating a vehicle, but not sentenced. There is no actual law on the books in Saudi Arabia that prohibits women from driving, but religious edicts have forbidden it. Women, King Abdullah announced on Sunday, will be able to vote in 2015.
