"I apologize for driving my car while I was aware that this action was against rules and regulations. I regret what I have done and hope that the officials will accept my apology," she said after she was released from detention at Al-Kandara police station, according to local daily Al-Madinah.

Al-Rahbini said she was traveling to the passport department and the labor office to complete some paperwork concerning her late husband who died about a month ago. "I have no one to complete these procedures for me. My driver has traveled abroad and will not be back before three days. I did not like to sit in the same car with a non-mahram. For these reasons I drove my own car and I am sorry for what I did," she said.

Al-Rahbini said someone reported her to the police but when the police arrived she was standing beside the car and was not behind the wheel. "I parked my car near the building of the passport department and the labor office in Al-Kandara district. When I got out of the car, the police were surrounding me. They wrote in their report that when they caught me, I was not actually driving," she said.

Al-Rahbini said she was asked to sign a pledge never to do this again and was released without bail. She, however, recalled that this was not the first time she drove her car in Jeddah. "My late husband was suffering from blood clots and many times he would faint. Each time I drove him to the hospital. This happened about seven times," she said.

The actress admitted that she had committed a blunder by driving her car but said she was obliged to. "I committed a grave mistake by breaking the rules. I am sorry. I want the police and the officials to pardon me. I swear that the security were very nice to me and treated me very politely," she added.

However, some local reports said Al-Rahbini was caught while driving on King Abdullah road near the Oasis Mall. Though she was released, the car was impounded.

Al Rahbini is the fourth woman to be held by the police in the past month for driving, in violation of the Kingdom's law banning women from driving vehicles.

On May 21, police detained 32-year-old divorced mother Manal Al-Sharif after she was caught driving her brother's car in in Alkhobar. She was first arrested after uploading a video on YouTube in which she talked about the challenge of having to rely on drivers. Al-Sharif was released last week after appealing to high officials with a promise not to do it again.

Three days later, a woman in her 40s was briefly detained by the police in Al-Ras, a town in the Qassim Province, for driving a car. She had two women passengers at the time she was caught driving.

In the city of Bisha, police arrested another woman, aged 48, for driving car. A large number of people gathered when police and Haia officials stopped the woman at a school. The woman was released after taking an undertaking that she would not do it again.