US President Barack Obama met a Saudi women's rights activist on Saturday, the same day women have pledged to defy a driving ban, as he wrapped up a reassurance visit to the longtime ally.
In talks with King Abdullah late on Friday, Obama told his host their two countries remained in lockstep on their strategic interests despite policy differences over Iran and Syria.
But despite appeals from US lawmakers, Obama did not raise the issue of human rights, a senior US official said, instead scheduling Saturday morning's meeting with Maha Al-Muneef, a prominent campaigner against domestic violence in the ultra-conservative Muslim kingdom.
Muneef was one of 10 women honoured by the US State Department this year for bravery, and Obama took the opportunity to hand her the accolade in person after she was unable to attend an awards ceremony in Washington earlier this month.
Obama posed with Muneef for photographers, as he praised her efforts "to persuade many that this is an issue that is going to be important to the society over the long term."
Amnesty International had urged Obama to take a strong stance on the issue during his visit by appointing a woman chauffeur and meeting activists.
"Under its restrictive guardianship system, women need the permission of a male guardian to get married, travel, undergo certain types of surgery, accept paid employment or enrol in higher education," the London-based watchdog said.
Dozens of US lawmakers had also called on Obama to publicly address Saudi Arabia's "systematic human rights violations", including its ban on women drivers.
"We do have a lot of significant concerns about the human rights situation that have been ongoing with respect to women's rights, with respect to religious freedom, with respect to free and open dialogue," the official said.
But "given the extent of time that they spent on Iran and Syria, they didn't get to a number of issues and it wasn't just human rights."
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