Women who defied Saudi Arabia's driving ban freed after months in jail

The two spent over 70 days in detention for trying to drive in Saudi Arabia

Two women, who spent months in jail for defying Saudi Arabia's ban on female drivers, were released from prison on Thursday, Mashable reported.

Loujain al-Hathloul, 25, and Maysa al-Amoudi, 33, had been arrested in December for driving into Saudi Arabia from the United Arab Emirates.

The two women announced their release through simple messages on their respective social media accounts on Thursday, having spent more than 70 days in detention.

Al-Amoudi posted an image with the message, "praise be to Allah" on her Instagram account after her release. On the other hand al-Hathloul posted a simple hello to her hundreds of thousands of Twitter followers.

https://twitter.com/LoujainHathloul/status/565968502154989568

At the time of their arrest, Human Rights Watch had denounced the women's detention.

“After years of false promises to end its absurd restrictions on women, Saudi authorities are still arresting them just for getting behind the wheel,” said Sarah Leah Whitson, HRW's Middle East and North Africa director, in a statement. “The Saudi government’s degrading restrictions on women are what bring shame to the country, not the brave activists standing up for their rights.”

On November 30, al-Hathloul described being detained at the Saudi Arabian border in a Facebook post, saying she was denied entry back into Saudi Arabia "because I'm a woman driving my own car with a valid UAE driver's license which, according to the GCC [Gulf Cooperation Council], allows me to legally drive in Saudi Arabia."

Al-Amoudi, a Saudi journalist, arrived at the border the next day with food, water and a blanket for al-Hathloul, before she too was detained on Saudi side of the al-Batha border crossing. Both women had been vocal supporters of an anti-driving ban protest that staged actions across Saudi Arabia beginning in October 2013.

An informal prohibition on female drivers in Saudi Arabia became official policy in 1990. In 2005, however, the now-deceased King Abdullah said he planned to change those laws. He died in January without doing so.