Saudi Arabian women s rights activist Loujain al-Hathloul released from jail
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Ms al-Hathloul s family has accused the Saudi government of torturing her.
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Prominent women s rights activist Loujain al-Hathloul has been released from a Saudi prison nearly three years after being arrested on charges that have drawn international condemnation.
Key points:
Saudi authorities deny they subjected the 31-year-old to electric shocks, waterboarding, flogging and sexual assault
US National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan and UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres welcomed her release
Ms al-Hathloul, 31, was detained in May 2018 and sentenced in December to nearly six years in prison on charges that UN rights experts called spurious under broad counter-terrorism laws.
Al-Hathloul’s case, and her imprisonment for the past two and a half years, have drawn criticism from rights groups, members of the US Congress and European Union lawmakers.
Cale Brown, the deputy spokesman of the State Department said the United States was “concerned by reports” of her sentence.
“We’ve emphasized the importance of free expression and peaceful activism in Saudi Arabia as it advances women’s rights,” Brown wrote on Twitter.
“We look forward to her anticipated early release in 2021.”
Jake Sullivan, who will take over as national security adviser when Joe Biden is sworn in as president on January 20, called the sentence “unjust and troubling” adding that the new administration would “stand up against human rights violations wherever they occur.”
Loujain al-Hathloul: Fierce Saudi women s rights campaigner
Issued on:
28/12/2020 - 12:20 3 min
Riyadh (AFP)
Loujain al-Hathloul, who was sentenced on Monday to five years and eight months prison, has become emblematic of the fight for women s rights in Saudi Arabia.
The 31-year-old long campaigned for women to be able to drive and for an end to the kingdom s notorious guardianship system, which requires women to get permission from male relatives for many decisions.
A graduate of the Canadian University of British Columbia, Hathloul was detained in May 2018 just weeks before the historic lifting of the decades-old driving ban along with several prominent women campaigners on the charge of attempting to destabilise the kingdom .
Saudi activist Loujain al-Hathloul
Credit: FACEBOOK/AFP via Getty Images
A prominent Saudi Arabian activist who campaigned for the right to drive was sentenced to nearly six years in jail today, despite international criticism of her trial and claims she had been tortured.
Loujain al-Hathloul, 31, was arrested with a dozen other women’s rights campaigners in 2018, even as the Gulf kingdom lifted the ban on women driving and pledged to relax patriarchal male guardianship laws.
A judge in a Saudi terrorism court in Riyadh on Monday sentenced her to five years and eight months on charges related to her activism, including seeking to change the Saudi political system conspiring with foreign governments and harming national security.
Loujain al-Hathloul condamnée à près de six ans de prison pour son combat féministe cnews.fr - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from cnews.fr Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.