DUBAI: Two Saudi women’s rights campaigners have been released from prison, three years after Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman targeted women activists who advocated more freedom than peace, rights groups said on Sunday.
It now appears that all women’s rights activists detained in the 2018 sweep have now been released from prison, although the status of one woman is unclear.
London-based ALQST rights group, which primarily focuses on Saudi Arab, said the two women – Samar Badawi and Nasima al-Sada – were released late Saturday night or early Sunday. Human Rights Watch also confirmed his release.
The women were sentenced to five years’ imprisonment, of which two were suspended.
He was a vocal critic of Saudi Arabia’s male guardianship laws, which gave control over the husband, father, and in some cases a woman’s own son’s ability to obtain a passport and travel.
He also advocated the right of women to drive. Both restrictions have since been lifted.
The two women have been barred from traveling abroad for five years as part of their conditional release, rights groups told The. contacted by The Associated Press said. Like other Saudi women’s rights activists released from prison, rights groups said the two women could face a ban from speaking to the media and posting about their case online.
Most of the women detained in the crown prince’s campaign were arrested in May 2018, but Badawi and al-Sada were detained several weeks later in July of that year.
About a dozen women have previously told Saudi judges that they had been caned on their backs and thighs and thrown into the water by masked men during interrogation. Some women say they were forcibly touched and groped, and threatened with rape and death. A woman attempted suicide in prison.
The Saudi government has not commented on the personal affairs of most of the women or publicized their allegations.
It is not clear what Badawi and al-Sada were convicted of. Several people with knowledge of al-Sada’s case said he was charged under cybercrime law and found guilty of undermining public order by communicating with foreign journalists and organisations.
Badawi is a well-known human rights activist based in Jeddah who first came to prominence when she petitioned Saudi courts to remove her father as her legal guardian, as he was barred from marrying potential suitors .
Years later, he spoke in defense of his brother Raf Badawi, which is serving a 10-year prison sentence over the Internet for criticizing the ultra-Orthodox religious establishment. He was publicly flogged in 2015 king abdullah.
The mother of two was briefly married to human rights lawyer Waleed Abul-Khair, who is currently serving a 15-year sentence.
Al-Sada is a prominent women’s rights activist from the Eastern Province, an area heavily populated by the state’s minority Shia Muslims. She was also vocal in defending greater rights for Shias.
Amnesty International said she was held in solitary confinement for a year, and was not allowed to see her children or her lawyer for months at a time.
The arrest of the women, some of whom are mothers, grandmothers and renowned college professors, took many by surprise as it came at the same time that the state lifted a long-standing ban on women’s driving in June 2018.
Months later, the Crown Prince faced widespread international criticism over the assassination of Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi In an operation planned by two of the prince’s top aides inside the Saudi consulate in Istanbul, however, none were found guilty by Saudi courts. Eleven people faced trial in Saudi Arabia for the murder.
The state says the crown prince had no knowledge of the operation, despite US intelligence assessments that he was implicated.
activists with knowledge of women workers MayaAn al-Zahrani’s case states that he was convicted in December by the same anti-terrorism court as prominent rights activist Louzain al-Hathloul and received a similar sentence. It is not clear whether al-Zahrani has been released from prison.
Al-Hathloul was released from prison in February after nearly three years in custody. He was indicted on charges related to his activism, such as agitating for change, pursuing a foreign agenda, and using the Internet to damage public order.
Several Saudi men who support women’s rights activists are in custody.
It now appears that all women’s rights activists detained in the 2018 sweep have now been released from prison, although the status of one woman is unclear.
London-based ALQST rights group, which primarily focuses on Saudi Arab, said the two women – Samar Badawi and Nasima al-Sada – were released late Saturday night or early Sunday. Human Rights Watch also confirmed his release.
The women were sentenced to five years’ imprisonment, of which two were suspended.
He was a vocal critic of Saudi Arabia’s male guardianship laws, which gave control over the husband, father, and in some cases a woman’s own son’s ability to obtain a passport and travel.
He also advocated the right of women to drive. Both restrictions have since been lifted.
The two women have been barred from traveling abroad for five years as part of their conditional release, rights groups told The. contacted by The Associated Press said. Like other Saudi women’s rights activists released from prison, rights groups said the two women could face a ban from speaking to the media and posting about their case online.
Most of the women detained in the crown prince’s campaign were arrested in May 2018, but Badawi and al-Sada were detained several weeks later in July of that year.
About a dozen women have previously told Saudi judges that they had been caned on their backs and thighs and thrown into the water by masked men during interrogation. Some women say they were forcibly touched and groped, and threatened with rape and death. A woman attempted suicide in prison.
The Saudi government has not commented on the personal affairs of most of the women or publicized their allegations.
It is not clear what Badawi and al-Sada were convicted of. Several people with knowledge of al-Sada’s case said he was charged under cybercrime law and found guilty of undermining public order by communicating with foreign journalists and organisations.
Badawi is a well-known human rights activist based in Jeddah who first came to prominence when she petitioned Saudi courts to remove her father as her legal guardian, as he was barred from marrying potential suitors .
Years later, he spoke in defense of his brother Raf Badawi, which is serving a 10-year prison sentence over the Internet for criticizing the ultra-Orthodox religious establishment. He was publicly flogged in 2015 king abdullah.
The mother of two was briefly married to human rights lawyer Waleed Abul-Khair, who is currently serving a 15-year sentence.
Al-Sada is a prominent women’s rights activist from the Eastern Province, an area heavily populated by the state’s minority Shia Muslims. She was also vocal in defending greater rights for Shias.
Amnesty International said she was held in solitary confinement for a year, and was not allowed to see her children or her lawyer for months at a time.
The arrest of the women, some of whom are mothers, grandmothers and renowned college professors, took many by surprise as it came at the same time that the state lifted a long-standing ban on women’s driving in June 2018.
Months later, the Crown Prince faced widespread international criticism over the assassination of Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi In an operation planned by two of the prince’s top aides inside the Saudi consulate in Istanbul, however, none were found guilty by Saudi courts. Eleven people faced trial in Saudi Arabia for the murder.
The state says the crown prince had no knowledge of the operation, despite US intelligence assessments that he was implicated.
activists with knowledge of women workers MayaAn al-Zahrani’s case states that he was convicted in December by the same anti-terrorism court as prominent rights activist Louzain al-Hathloul and received a similar sentence. It is not clear whether al-Zahrani has been released from prison.
Al-Hathloul was released from prison in February after nearly three years in custody. He was indicted on charges related to his activism, such as agitating for change, pursuing a foreign agenda, and using the Internet to damage public order.
Several Saudi men who support women’s rights activists are in custody.
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