The jailing and alleged torture of a former University of British Columbia student in Saudi Arabia has attracted the attention of the incoming Biden administration in the United States. 

In a tweet, incoming National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan described the 68-month sentence handed down to Loujain al-Hathloul as "unjust and troubling", given that she was "simply exercising her universal rights".

"As we have said, the Biden-Harris administration will stand up against human rights violations wherever they occur," Sullivan declared.

https://twitter.com/jakejsullivan/status/1343610818814992386

Sullivan's comment stands in stark contrast to the Trump administration's free pass for Saudi Arabia on its treatment of al-Hathloul. This was recently the subject of a scathing essay by author Nina Burleigh, who documented her family's claims that she was tortured.

The 31-year-old human-rights activist and her fellow accused, Mia al-Zahrani, were convicted of crimes under Saudi Arabia's terrorism law.

https://twitter.com/ALQST_En/status/1343581170571878407?ref_src=twsrc%5E...

Al-Hathloul's family has said that she will appeal her sentence, which is also being appealed by the prosecutor.

This came six years after al-Hathloul defiantly drove a car across the border from United Arab Emirates into Saudi Arabia with her UAE driver's licence. There is no law in Saudi Arabia against people driving on the roads with a UAE driver's licence.

For that incident, she was kept in custody for 73 days.

According to Saudi journalist Ahmed Al Omran's newsletter, Riyadh Bureau, al-Hathloul first came to the attention of Saudis seven years ago when she was studying at UBC's Point Grey campus.

On the video-sharing app Keek, she wore wool scarves and short hair in the midst of winter. According to Al Omran, al-Hathloul mocked those who urged her to cover up.

"I won't cover up and your shitty ways won't work with me and won't convince me," al-Hathloul declared in Arabic.

Al Omran noted that she didn't appear to be intimidated, even congratulating those who thought she was going to hell in a mocking tone.

Here's how Al Omran translated her remarks into English: “How would you know? You’ve all installed yourselves in Allah’s position.”

In 2016, al-Hathloul defended her actions in a TV interview in Arabic.

'Loujain is strongly driven by her own beliefs and has never seemed overly concerned what people think of her or how she is being judged," Al Omran wrote. "She has always come across as someone who knows what she wants and is often able to express that in clear, simple terms." 

Her family says that she was subsequently arrested in Abu Dhabi and sent back to Saudi Arabia against her will. Once inside Saudi Arabia, she was banned from travelling.

In 2018, Saudi authorities arrested her and threw her in jail as part of a crackdown on women's-rights activists.

Human rights groups said that this was being done so that they wouldn't receive any credit for efforts by Saudi dictator Mohammed bin Salman, a.k.a. MBS, to portray himself as a liberator of women.

The same year, Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi was murdered and dismembered by Saudi agents in the Saudi consulate in Istanbul. 

The president of the University of British Columbia, Santa Ono, issued a statement on December 28 expressing profound disappointment over al-Hathloul's sentence.

UBC has written to Foreign Affairs Minister François-Philippe Champagne asking him to press for her release.

"Ms. Al-Hathloul has courageously and selflessly dedicated her life to advocating for human rights and campaigning to advance women’s rights in her home country of Saudi Arabia," Ono said. "She is an exemplar of UBC’s commitment to free speech, equality, empowerment and education, and global citizenship, and an unwavering champion of advancing a just and equitable society."