UBC alumna Loujain al-Hathloul and fellow human-rights defender Mia al-Zahrani convicted in Saudi terrorism court

by Charlie Smith on December 28th, 2020 at 7:40 AM

1 of 3 2 of 3

Two Saudi women's-rights activists have been convicted of "proven involvement in a number of criminal activities under the Law on Combatting Terrorism Crimes and Its Financing", according to a state-linked Saudi Arabian newspaper.

Sabq.org reported the judge's claim that one of the accused, UBC alumna Loujain al-Hathloul, confessed to the crimes "voluntarily without coercion".

She and Mia al-Zahrani were each sentenced to five years and eight months, with two years and 10 months suspended.

They've been in jail since 2018.

https://twitter.com/ALQST_En/status/1343581170571878407

Al-Hathloul's sister Lina and human rights groups, including Amnesty International, have said that al-Hathloul was repeatedly tortured with electrocution and flogging and threated with sexual abuse.

Her case has shone a spotlight on Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, a.k.a. MBS who publicly claims to be improving human rights but whose agents executed and dismembered journalist Jamal Khashoggi in the Saudi consulate in Istanbul.

"One day she told my parents that Saud al-Qahtani [a former advisor to the Royal Court and close confidante of MBS] was the one supervising the torture," Lina al-Hathloul told Time magazine earlier this year. "That he was the one giving the orders and that he was laughing at her, belittling her. He would threaten her, saying that if he wanted to he could rape her before killing her, and that he could make her body disappear in the sewage system."

Loujain al-Hathloul has been a leader in the fight against Saudi Arabia's archaic male-guardianship rule.

According to her sister, al-Hathloul was arrested in Abu Dhabi and forcibly sent back to Saudi Arabia, where she was prohibited from travelling before being arrested. Her sister also said that al-Hathloul denied an offer of freedom after she was jailed if she would publicly state that she wasn't tortured.

https://twitter.com/LinaAlhathloul/status/1343574512156213248

In 2018, Saudi Arabia detained the two women along with 11 other women's-rights activists. Authorities took this action after al-Hathloul drove a car to protest the government's ban on women getting behind the wheel.

She's also criticized Saudi Arabia's male-guardianship system in which women of any age must adhere to the dictates of a man, often a father or husband but sometimes even a brother or a son.

A website set up to raise awareness about al-Hathloul's case reveals that her family moved to France for five years when she was a child before they returned to Saudi Arabia.

She obtained a bachelor's degree in French literature at UBC in 2013.

Loujain al-Hathloul proudly held up her driver's licence from the United Arab Emirates.

"Loujain’s activism began during her studies in Canada, through her social media," the website states. "Loujain became one of the leaders in the Saudi Women’s Rights movement, reshaping the process of mass collective consciousness-raising and developing a fully articulated understanding of women’s varying social positions.

"She was a main voice in the movements 'Together We Stand to End Male Guardianship of Women' and 'Women Demand the Overthrow of Guardianship' raising awareness online and sharing information. She conducted a 'driving campaign' where she and other advocates took pictures of themselves driving in the streets of Saudi Arabia in defiance of the driving ban. As part of a working group, she established a shelter for women escaping domestic violence that not only provided a place to go but helped them integrate back into society."

The UN Human Rights Office has called for early release of al-Hathloul.