Saudi Arabia will allow women to drive from next June, state media said Tuesday, in a historic decision that makes the Gulf kingdom the last country in the world to permit women behind the wheel. The shock announcement comes after a years-long resistance from women's rights activists, some of whom were jailed for defying the ban on female driving.

The decision risks riling religious conservatives and is part of the government's major reform drive, conceived by powerful Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.

Copyright Agence France-Presse, 2017