When Shaima Jastaniah moved back to her native Saudi Arabia after a decade living in Houston, her black BMW X5 went with her.

Jastaniah, 34, had an international driver's license and the means to ship the luxury sport utility vehicle halfway across the world, but she didn't have the right to drive it.

Only men are allowed behind the wheel in Saudi Arabia, so Jastaniah had to hand over the keys to a male chauffeur.

Now she has been condemned to 10 lashes for driving her BMW in Jeddah, the coastal city where she lives.

Jastaniah's case is drawing attention to the cause of women's rights in the conservative Saudi kingdom, where other women also have defied the driving ban in recent months. The absolute monarchy enforces rules that segregate the sexes in public - and forbid women from driving - according to a strict Wahhabi brand of Sunni Islam.

"I think she just wanted to do it and in a way, she is maybe like Rosa Parks," said Nivien Saleh, assistant professor of International Studies at the University of St. Thomas in Houston, where Jastaniah earned a master's degree in 2010.

"Rosa Parks, as I've learned, did not sit in the seat that was supposed to be for whites as a conscientious objector, but just because she was tired, and that was then picked up by the civil rights movement as a cause," Saleh said. "And I think Shaima's cause was also picked up by the women's rights movement in Saudi Arabia."

Saudi Arabian Embassy officials did not respond to written questions from the Houston Chronicle on Tuesday. Jastaniah could not be reached for comment.

Her story first made headlines in September when her sentence of 10 lashes was handed down by a court in Jeddah.

'She doesn't deserve it'

On Sept. 28, a statement on Twitter by Saudi Princess Ameerah al-Taweel implied that Saudi Arabia's King Abdullah had pardoned Jastaniah.

"Thank God, the lashing of Shaima is canceled," tweeted the princess, wife of billionaire Saudi Prince Alwaleed bin Talal. "Thanks to our beloved king. I'm sure all Saudi women will be so happy, I know I am."

The tweet came three days after the king had announced in a speech that women would be allowed to vote by 2015, and run in future municipal elections, as well as be appointed to the Shoura Council, which advises the king.

But on Nov. 12, Jastaniah received an official notice that despite the apparent royal pardon, she will still be flogged unless she wins her appeal in court next week.

Jastaniah contacted Saleh, her old professor, and asked for help in publicizing her plight.

"I want to be able to drive, just like I did back in the States," she told her professor. "And I want other women to be able to do the same. It's a basic human right."

Saleh wrote an article about Jastaniah that appeared Monday on The Atlantic magazine's website.

"She thinks it's her right to drive, and she's not somebody who easily says, 'Please, I did something wrong, I deserve to be lashed, but please don't do that,' " Saleh said. "She doesn't think she's done anything wrong, and she doesn't deserve it, and like an American she speaks out about it, even though it's harder for her to speak out than it would be for an American."

Jastaniah defies Western stereotypes of veiled Arab women, Saleh said.

"She is not a demure person," Saleh said. "She jokes around. She is very self-confident, and she is one of the people that as a professor you really want to have in class because she contributes to the conversation. She's not one of those wallflowers." The mother of two also is athletic and loves to go to the gym, Saleh said.

Proud of her culture

Jastaniah moved to Houston in 2000 with her husband, but the couple divorced, and she returned last year to Saudi Arabia to live with her parents.

Lindsay Phend, 23, who graduated from St. Thomas in December 2010, saw Saleh's article on Facebook, and her heart immediately went out to Jastaniah, her former classmate.

"She is a wonderful woman," Phend said. "She is very intelligent, beautiful, compassionate. She always had wonderful things to say in class, and she was very proud of her culture as well, and always willing to share it."

Another one of Jastaniah's professors at St. Thomas, Rogelio Garcia Contreras, said his former student always had a strong interest in women's rights and development.

"It is difficult to change things, but I know at the end of the day it's because of people like her that things are different and some improvement can be made," said Contreras, who teaches International Studies.

Saleh said it is appropriate that Jastaniah's friends in Houston should try to help her.

"I think to a certain extent, Shaima is an honorary Texan," Saleh said. "You know, she's a Saudi, but in some ways she is a Texan and she is so Houston. What sets Houston apart is its diversity, its international character and she embodies that."

lindsay.wise@chron.com