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Saudi Arabia
She fought for the lifting of the driving ban for women, now the Crown Prince is putting her in prison
Loujain al-Hathloul became known internationally when she successfully campaigned for the lifting of the driving ban for women in Saudi Arabia. Now she has been sentenced to a long prison term.
Women’s rights activist Loujain al-Hathloul in her car on her way from Saudi Arabia to Dubai. (Screenshot from video recording from 2014.)
When she and other activists were arrested in May 2018, Loujain al-Hathloul was denigrated as a “traitor” and a “spy for Western embassies” by Saudi state media. The women’s rights activist tried to destabilize Saudi society with the support of terrorists, the judiciary of the desert kingdom claimed at the time.
In fact, the 30-year-old academic had done nothing more than spread a request on YouTube to lift the ban on driving for women in her country four years later.
Loujain al-Hathloul became world famous through the video that was distributed in the fall of 2014. Mohammed bin Salman, MBS for short, the narcissistic crown prince and de facto ruler of the country, apparently saw the brave woman as a danger to the absolute monarchy. The reforms are made here from above and not from the grassroots, requested by activists like al-Hathloul.
An example of deterrence for “apostates”
After the assassination of dissident Jamal Khashoggi at the Saudi consulate in Istanbul, presumably alone, in October 2018, MBS again decided to make a deterrent for so-called “apostates”. He asked the judges, who were receptive to instructions from the royal family, to sentence Loujain al-Hathloul to the harshest possible sentence. Five years and eight months was now his verdict.
The activist for women’s rights, it was said Monday in the justification of the special court for terrorism, had incited a riot and called for a change in the political system, in other words: the overthrow of the monarchy. Furthermore, al-Hathloul is said to have communicated with “terrorists” and “dissidents” online.
Tortured and sexually abused in prison
According to her sister Lina, Loujain was tortured and sexually abused in Riyadh prison with beatings and electric shocks. According to US human rights activist Reem Abdellatif, MBS advisor Saud al Qathani was responsible for the severe mistreatment. According to reports from the Turkish judiciary, he is also said to have prepared the murder of Jamal Khashoggi, monitored him via Skype, and insulted the dissident in the worst possible way before his horrific death.
Loujain al-Hathloul’s conviction has sparked a storm of outrage on social media. The Saudi activists demanded the immediate release of the women’s rights activist under her pseudonyms and called on the EU and the United States to exert massive pressure on the royal family. “The free democratic world”, it was said, should not look the other way now. The opportunity now is good to hold the Saudi heir to the throne accountable for his misconduct.
