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".