JEDDAH, 18 November 2003 — A Saudi woman saved at least one life when she drove seven people wounded in the suicide bombing of a Riyadh housing compound to hospital, her father said.
Saba Abu Lisan, who was in the Al-Muhaya Compound at the time of the Nov. 8 attack, transported the “critically wounded” blast victims to King Faisal Specialist Hospital in her father’s Mercedes, Al-Watan reported.
Saba apparently violated Saudi law, which prohibits women from driving. “Police stopped Saba on her way out of the compound but were understanding of the circumstances, acknowledged she was acting for humanitarian reasons and escorted her all the way to the hospital,” her father Abu Lisan told the Arabic daily.
Rashid, a Canadian survivor of the attack, told the daily that Saba’s timely action had saved his wounded pregnant wife. “The attack took place while we were sleeping,” he said, adding that his wife was injured in the blast.
“There were women and children among the wounded. Saba and her two sisters rescued a seriously injured little girl who had been hiding in a bathroom in one of the residential villas,” Abu Lisan said. “They put her in the car with two British Muslim women and two other little girls,” he added. Abu Lisan said he went to the hospital and drove his daughter back.
Meanwhile, Riyadh Governor Prince Salman has extended the stay of Al-Muhaya Compound’s residents in new furnished residential apartments provided by the state, the paper said.
Also yesterday, a number of princesses visited Al-Muhaya residents at their new accommodation to express their sympathy and “find out if there was anything the residents needed,” the paper said.
