Amnesty International demands Saudi officials release female activists
Amnesty International has rebuked Saudi Arabia’s crackdown against dissidents and intellectuals, calling upon authorities to immediately release a group of Saudi women activists who have been “detained simply for demanding equality and defending human rights.”
The Britain-based organization mentioned Loujain al-Hathloul, Eman al-Nafjan and Aziza al-Yousef among several Saudi advocates for women’s rights, whom officials have jailed for almost two years.
“Many of these women led the campaign for the lifting of the driving ban on women over the past years. The ban was lifted in June 2018, but the women who made it happen still haven’t had the opportunity to legally sit behind the wheel, instead they are sitting behind bars, locked up in prison cells," it said.
It added the wave of arrests didn’t end, as in July 2018 Saudi authorities arrested Samar Badawi and Nassima al-Sada, also prominent women activists who remain detained.
Amnesty International further highlighted that several of the women activists had endured torture, sexual abuse and other forms of ill-treatment, and that they were held incommunicado and in solitary confinement with no access to their families or lawyers.
The human rights organization then cast doubts over the cosmetic reforms by King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud and Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, stating that the measures “cannot cover up human rights abuses and the brutal crackdown on human rights activists.”
The organization emphasized that Saudi women activists “must be immediately and unconditionally released to continue their peaceful human rights work towards a better future for their country and people.”
Saudi authorities have arrested dozens of activists, bloggers, intellectuals and others perceived as political opponents ever since bin Salman became Saudi Arabia’s de facto leader in 2017, showing almost zero tolerance for dissent even in the face of international condemnations of the clampdown.
Over the past years, Riyadh has also redefined its anti-terrorism laws to target activism.
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