Saudi women rights activists are still in detention, despite the international pressure from human rights organizations and activists into releasing them.
Among them is Loujain Hathloul who has been receiving massive media coverage due to her family’s efforts to speak up in the media and document details and stories from her detention.
Her siblings; Waleed and Alia who live outside Saudi Arabia have been seen actively speaking out and trying to tell her story in the international media as a way to pressure the Saudi authorities into releasing Loujain along with other activists. Alia has written stories for the Washington Post and the New York Times revealing details about the torture of Loujain and her imprisonment conditions, while Waleed has appeared a couple of times on the CNN and the BBC.
Lately, Loujain’s brother and sister confirmed receiving orders from people involved in the Saudi government to pressure them to stop speaking out about their sister’s story. According to Waleed, their parents who are still in Saudi Arabia have been asked to pressure him and his sister Alia to stop speaking out about Loujain.
Translation: “Ironically, some people who claim to be close to the state are pressuring my family to silence me and Alia. It should be noted that I would not have been here today if they did not arrest her [Loujain] from the beginning. They are the ones who chose this path and I did not personally choose it. We did stay silent for months with no solution, what should we do?”
The pressure did not stop there. This week, Alia and Waleed have posted screenshots and reports of threats they have been receiving on social media from anonymous entities.
Loujain Hathloul is one of around 11 women activists detained for a year now amid a crackdown. The detentions came after activists campaigned for the right to drive and an end to the kingdom’s male guardianship system.
They were reportedly put on their third trial last week after spending almost 10 months without any trials or charges filed against them; three of them have been freed a week earlier yet they attended their trial. Their charges included contacting foreign entities and human rights groups in addition to others related to aiming at harming the Kingdom’s reputation.
Loujain’s case and other activists have intensified criticism of Riyadh’s rights record, already in the spotlight after last year’s murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi.
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