Saudi Arabia begins trials of women’s rights activists

by Sydney Caron
edited by Alexa Asta

An investigation into a group of women’s rights activists who have been accused of compromising the security of Saudi Arabia has come to an end, according to the NYTimes.

(Photo: Sarah Dadouch)

The office of Saudi Arabia’s public prosecutor said, “The activists were working to undermine the security of the kingdom (Saudi Arabia),” and was preparing to put them on trial. The group of activists was arrested in spring of 2018, but has not faced any final charges.

The activists were believed by family members to have been interrogated under serious torture. Alia al-Hathloul, the sister of one of the activists, spoke about her sister’s condition where she said, “She was shaking uncontrollably, unable to hold her grip, to walk or sit normally” during a visitation session. When Al Hathloul asked her sister if she had been tortured, she said she was “held in solitary confinement, beaten, waterboarded, given electric shocks, sexually harassed and threatened with rape and murder.”

The activist group was working towards campaigning against the ban on women driving as well as opening a shelter for abused women. Some activists, as well as others who supported the activists, were soon released after being arrested while others were not.

Although the activists were working on campaigning against the ban on women driving, the kingdom was already planning to lift the ban. Many assumed that Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman had the activists arrested because he did not want people to believe that they had an impact on the lifting of the driving ban.

The office of Saudi Arabia’s public prosecutor said, “The activists had admitted to collaborating with parties hostile to the kingdom, recruited government employees to give them confidential information and given financial and moral support to hostile elements abroad.”

Charges have not been finalized for any member of the activist group, but they are at risk for prison sentences. The suspects have not been identified by the government, however, a Saudi newspaper released photos and names of the suspects with the word “traitor” written over them.