Wajeha al-Huwaider is a Saudi activist and writer. On September 20, 2006, Al-Huwaider was arrested for organizing a protest on women's rights. Before she was released, Al-Huwaider was forced to sign a statement agreeing to cease all human rights activism and was also banned from travelling outside Saudi Arabia. The travel ban was lifted on September 28, 2006. She co-founded The Association for the Protection and Defense of Women's Rights in Saudi Arabia in 2007. The same year, she presented a petition to King Abdullah advocating an end to the ban on women drivers. She collected signatures for the petition in public areas and through the internet, despite intimidation and the frequent blocking of her e-mail address. Al-Huwaider has also campaigned against the mahram or guardianship laws that give male kin control over women's daily lives, including permission to travel outside the home. A brief period spent in the United States influenced her to become a feminist activist: "Before that, I knew that I'm a human being. However, in the United States I felt it, because I was treated as one. I learned life means nothing without freedom. Then I decided to become a real women's rights activist, in order to free women in my country and to make them feel alive."