By Ahmed Sakouti

Okaz/Saudi Gazette

JEDDAH — In a second case of its kind in Saudi Arabia since women were allowed to drive in the country in June this year, a woman’s car was burned down in front of her house in Mushrefah district of Jeddah early Thursday.

The first incident happened less than two months after the decision was announced. Two young men set fire to a woman’s car parked outside her home in Jamoum near Makkah.

The General Court in Makkah acquitted the two young men for lack of sufficient evidence but Salma, the car owner, said she would appeal the verdict.

Nurhan Bassam never expected her car to have the same fate as that of Salma. She said she bought her 2016 model car only about two months ago.

She was surprised that her car was burned down though the street was lighted and her house was near some vital institutions, including the traffic police station and Al-Ittihad sports club.

Bassam said she was awakened by neighbors knocking hysterically at her door to inform her that her car was ablaze.

“I went down immediately to see what had happened. When I saw my car in fires, I fainted near it, inhaling a large amount of smoke,” she said.

The neighbors and the Civil Defense put out the fire but that car was totally damaged.

Bassam, who lost her farther at an early age, said she depended on the car to transport her mother and siblings. “I relied entirely on myself to support the family since my father has died,” she said.

She was surprised that someone would have the guts to set fire to her car just a few minutes before the Adhan (call) for the Fajr prayer.

Bassam said she parked the car in front of her building at about 6 p.m. and was sure that all the car’s vital components were completely switched off.

“The fire was not caused by any technical fault but by the deliberate work of a criminal,” she said.

She said she had made a complete technical check-up of the car about 10 days ago at a car agency and was sure that everything worked perfectly.

The Jeddah Police did not dismiss the possibility of a crime and said they were investigating.