Saudi Arabia: Man arrested for threatening to 'burn female drivers'

The landmark decree to allow Saudi women to drive after decades of struggle against the patriarchal rule has not gone down with some. 

A man has been arrested for allegedly threatening to attack women drivers, the Interior Ministry said on Friday.

While Many Saudis welcomed Tuesday's announcement by King Salman lifting the ban by next year, some expressed confusion or outrage after the reversal of a policy that has been backed for decades by prominent clerics.

The ministry said on Twitter that police in the kingdom's Eastern Province had arrested the suspect and referred him to the public prosecutor.

Read | Historic! Saudi Arabia’s King Salman orders driving licenses for women

"I swear to God, any woman whose car breaks down - I will burn her and her car," said a man wearing a traditional white robe who appeared in a short video distributed online earlier in the week.

The authenticity of the video has not been verified. But the Eastern Province's police spokesman has reportedly revealed to Saudi media that the man in custody was in his 20s and that the arrest had been ordered by its governor.

Separately, the local media reported late on Thursday that authorities directed the interior minister to prepare an anti-harassment law within 60 days.

The directions cited "the danger posed by harassment ...and its contradiction with the values of Islam".