DUBAI (Reuters) – A Saudi cleric who said women should not drive because their brains shrink to a quarter the size of a man’s when they go shopping has been banned from preaching, state television said.
Saad al-Hijri was suspended from all religious activities after advising against allowing women to drive in a speech that contained comments "diminishing human value”, the broadcaster quoted a spokesman for the governor of Asir province as saying.
Saudi Arabia is the only country in the world that bans women from driving, despite ambitious government targets to increase their public role, especially in the workforce.
Women in the kingdom are also bound by law to wear long robes and a headscarf and require the consent of a male guardian for most legal actions.
In a video identifying him as the head of the religious edicts department in the southern province, Hijri asked what the traffic department would do it if it discovered a man with only half a brain.
"Would it give him a license or not? It would not. So how can it give it to a woman when she has only half?” he said.
"If she goes to the market she loses another half. What is left? A quarter...We demand the traffic department check because she is not suitable to drive and she has only a quarter.”
The comments sparked anger on social media.