Wajeha Huwaider talks of the injustice of the ban and calls for its abolition as she drives calmly along a highway.
She says the film was posted to mark International Women's Day. Thousands have viewed it on the YouTube website.
The last such public show of dissent was in 1990 when dozens of women were arrested for circling Riyadh in cars.
Last year, Ms Huwaider and other activists circulated a petition which was sent to King Abdullah urging him to lift the ban.
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But about halfway through, without comment, she executes a left turn onto the main highway and proceeds to drive along it in defiance of Saudi law.
"Many women in this society are able to drive cars, and many of our male relatives don't mind us driving," she says in Arabic.
"I hope that by next year's International Woman's Day, this ban on us will be lifted," she concludes.
In February, two leading Islamic scholars said there was no reason to continue the ban.
However, many conservatives continue to resist reform, arguing it would lead to mingling of the sexes which is banned under Saudi Arabia's strict interpretation of Islamic Law.
The 1990 protest, coming at the height of the Gulf crisis when US forces had come to defend Saudi Arabia, was followed by a crackdown on the women drivers and their passengers.
The women were jailed for one day, their passports confiscated, and many lost their jobs.
King Abdullah has in the past said that he thought a day would eventually come when Saudi women were allowed to drive.
Habiba Garba told the BBC she wanted people to see the reality of violence against women in northern Nigeria.
But Kano State authorities say they have received complaints the picture breaks Muslim rules about nudity.
Labaran Abdu Madari, who beat Mrs Garba in front of witnesses and police last week, is in jail and yet to be charged.
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Kano is one of 12 mainly Muslim northern states to have implemented Sharia law since Nigeria's return to civil rule in 1999.
The BBC's Mustafa Muhammad in Kano says the state-owned Triumph newspaper, which published the picture showing Mrs Garba's injuries, has a very small circulation and few people in Kano have heard about the incident.
But he says the editor of the paper may come under some pressure from government to resign for publishing it.
Hate campaign
"I want to show the people of the world what that man did to me," she told the BBC from her hospital bed in Kano city on Wednesday.
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Mrs Garba, a women's leader in the opposition All Nigeria People's Party (ANPP), alleged Mr Madari, a Kano State lawmaker for the ruling People's Democratic Party, mounted a campaign of harassment against her.
She said that he paid youths to follow and heckle her after she switched political parties from the PDP.
They called her a "prostitute" and physically threatened her, she said.
Last week, she went to the police, who arrested one of the youths.
The politician heard about the arrest and came down to the police station where eyewitnesses told the BBC that he savagely beat Mrs Garba.
Mr Madari was arrested. He has not been granted bail and will appear in court to be charged early next month.
Privacy
On Monday, the Triumph published the picture of Mrs Garba's injuries showing the area just under her armpit and the scars on her torso.
"A women's rights group came to the government to complain that her rights had been infringed by the publication," said Sule Yau Sule, spokesman for the state government.
The picture shows part of her naked torso, and as publishing nudity is forbidden under Sharia law it violates rights to privacy.
The government says it will investigate whether her consent was sought by the paper.
"If her rights have not been infringed we will drop it," Mr Sule said.
Mrs Garba had to have a blood clot removed from her abdomen, the Triumph reported.
"This attack is barbaric, animalistic," the paper quoted ANPP secretary Alhaji Rabi'u Bako as saying.
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The Chinese special envoy for Darfur has arrived in the Sudanese capital, Khartoum, for a five-day visit.
The visit of Liu Guijin comes amid mounting pressure on Beijing to use its influence on the Sudanese government to end the conflict in the western region. Mr Liu will travel to Darfur on Tuesday, the fifth anniversary of the start of the conflict which has left 200,000 people dead and 2.5m homeless. Correspondents say China wants to show it is playing a positive role in Sudan. It has long had strong trade and military links with Khartoum, which is accused of backing militias that have raped and murdered civilians in Darfur. Mr Liu's visit was announced just days after film director Steven Spielberg pulled out as artistic adviser to the Beijing Olympics, saying China was not doing enough to end the humanitarian crisis in the troubled Sudanese region. Mr Spielberg said his conscience would not allow him to continue in the role. 'Open role' Speaking on arrival at Khartoum's airport on Sunday morning, Mr Liu said that during his visit he would discuss with the Sudanese President Omar Bashir and his government a permanent solution to the problems in Darfur.
"What China is pursuing is to realise peace in Darfur as soon as possible, and to help Sudan achieve stability and development as soon as possible," he told the Xinhua news agency. "China's devotion to solving the Darfur issue is for the sake of peace, rather than for expediency," he added. Mr Liu said China would play an open role in helping to solve the conflict and would support any proposal or measure that would be conducive to a settlement. The BBC's Amber Henshaw in Khartoum says Beijing is keen to show it is playing a positive role in the region - this week it will provide $11m (£5.6m) of humanitarian assistance. Arms supply Activists have accused China of helping to arm pro-Khartoum militia against Darfur's rebel groups, but Mr Liu told the BBC on Friday that only 8% of weapons imported by Sudan came from China in 2006 and insisted it was not fuelling the conflict.
"There are seven countries selling arms to Sudan. So even if China stopped its sale, it still won't solve the problem of arms in Sudan," he said. Mr Liu also said he would advise Sudan to co-operate on the deployment of the new UN-African Union peacekeeping force in Darfur. The UN mission to Darfur, Unamid, began deploying in January but the force still lacks most of the 26,000 personnel planned for the mission. He said that as a permanent member of the UN Security Council, China had been asked to help find a long-term solution to the Darfur issue, but that it had done so with respect for Sudan's sovereignty and territorial integrity. |
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The statement was an unusual departure from its normally non-political stance.
The ICRC said the measures imposed by Israel had denied the Palestinian population the right to live a normal and dignified life.
But the Israeli government insisted it was co-operating with the Red Cross to ensure the flow of humanitarian aid.
"We are committed to making sure that the people of Gaza continue to receive vital humanitarian and medical support," Israeli government spokesman Mark Regev said.
But the Israeli government also said restrictions could not be eased too quickly, because Palestinian militants would then try to carry out more attacks.
The ICRC says humanitarian assistance cannot possibly be the solution in Gaza and the West Bank.
Its statement comes just days before a major donor conference in Paris.
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The BBC's Imogen Foulkes in Geneva says politics is not usually a word which features in the language of the international Red Cross - the famously neutral organisation tends to work quietly in conflict zones, and when it does speak, it speaks of numbers of injured treated, or numbers of detainees visited.
But the ICRC now says that life in the West bank and Gaza Strip has become so dreadful that no amount of humanitarian aid can really help.
'Situation perpetuated'
"Why do we call for political action? Because actually we do not think that humanitarian aid can solve the problem," said Beatrice Megevand Roggo, ICRC director of operations for the Middle East.
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"In Gaza the whole strip is being strangled, economically speaking, life there has become a nightmare. And for that there is no solution that can be provided by humanitarian organisations.
"We can try to put patches on problems, but we do not have the key to a lasting solution that would address the roots of the problem."
In fact the Red Cross and other UN aid agencies are pouring money into Gaza; senior aid officials, our correspondent says, privately fear they may be perpetuating a situation which really should not continue.
'Dignity denied'
Together with its statement calling for political action, the Red Cross has issued a report called Dignity Denied which paints a harrowing picture of life for the Palestinians - suffering an economic blockade which denies them jobs, medical care, and even food.
"The 1.4 million Palestinians living in the Gaza Strip continue to pay for conflict and economic containment with their health and livelihoods," the report says.
"In the West Bank, the establishment of Israeli settlements affects every aspect of Palestinians' lives and leads to the loss of much land and income, together with recurrent violence by settlers. Exhausting movement restrictions hinder access to work and have led to unprecedented levels of unemployment and poverty.
"Only prompt, innovative and courageous political action can change the harsh reality of this long-standing occupation, restore normal social and economic life to the Palestinian people, and allow them to live their lives in dignity."
The ICRC says it recognises Israel's right to take measures to defend itself.
"[But this] needs to be balanced against the Palestinians' right to live a normal and dignified life," said Ms Roggo.
Also on Thursday, the World Bank said increased aid and Palestinian government reforms will have no real effect unless Israel eases restrictions on travel and trade.
At the donors conference on Monday in Paris, governments are being asked to provide the Palestinians with US $5.6bn over the next three years.
Ashraf Alhajouj, imprisoned with five Bulgarians for more than eight years, filed the suit through a French group.
The move coincides with a visit to France by Mr Gaddafi, which enabled the group to invoke an international anti-torture convention against him.
It is unclear how far the action can go as Mr Gaddafi has diplomatic immunity.
French President Nicolas Sarkozy and his then-wife Celia have been credited with brokering the release of Mr Alhajouj and the other medics on 24 July.
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But questions were raised about the terms of the release after Mr Sarkozy signed major trade agreements with Libya the following day.
France is the first Western country to invite Mr Gaddafi for an official visit, but on Tuesday opposition MPs boycotted a meeting with him at the French parliament.
Immune from prosecution
The French charitable organisation Lawyers Without Borders filed the action against Mr Gaddafi, five senior Libyan police officers and a Libyan doctor.
Francois Cantier, president of group, said Mr Gaddafi's 400-strong delegation should be investigated.
"It is possible that these people are in the delegation and we are asking that this be checked," he told the BBC News website.
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The case cites a 1984 convention allowing national authorities to initiate legal action against anyone visiting the country who is suspected of torture.
But Mr Gaddafi has been immune from prosecution in France since 2001, when the country's top court ruled that as a head of state he could not face legal action over the bombing of a French passenger jet in 1989 in which 170 people died.
Mr Cantier said he did not want to let Mr Gaddafi's visit to France pass without the case of the medics being brought to public attention.
"Our suit also has a symbolic value, since we know that [Mr Gaddafi] was at the origin of this situation... nothing in Libya can happen without Gaddafi."
'Electrodes'
The medics were convicted of deliberately injecting 438 children with HIV-tainted blood. Fifty-six of the children have since died.
The six, who were jailed in 1999, have always proclaimed their innocence and say they were tortured to confess.
They initially faced the death penalty before their sentences were commuted to life imprisonment.
In an interview for Dutch TV after his release, Dr Alhajouj said the Libyan authorities had drugged him and attached electrodes to his feet and genitals.
Police dogs were set on him, and he was later forced to pretend that he had been treated well, he said.
Mr Gaddafi's son, Saif al-Islam Gaddafi, has also said the medics were tortured.