Jon Sharman - Saudi Arabia prepares to prosecute women’s rights activists

By Dilip -
Saudi Arabia is moving to prosecute a group of women’s rights activists who have been detained for several months, its state news agency has announced. The kingdom’s public prosecutor is thought to be preparing the trials of nine people arrested in June last year on suspicion of harming the country’s interests and offering support to hostile elements abroad. 

The group comprised five men and four women. At the time of their detention international rights groups reported that at least 11 prominent activists, mostly women, had been arrested. They had previously campaigned for the right to drive and an end to the kingdom’s male guardianship system. Some were later released, but activists have said that several of the women were held in solitary confinement for months and faced torture and sexual harassment.

A Saudi official has said the allegations of mistreatment and torture of the female detainees were “false ... And have no connection to the truth”. Dozens of other activists, intellectuals and clerics have been arrested separately in an apparent bid to stamp out opposition to Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, who has consolidated power including with a sweeping anti-corruption campaign... read more: 
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/saudi-arabia-womens-rights-activists-prosecute-trial-torture-prison-a8804111.html

 see also
In Middle East, Impunity for Human Rights Abuses reigned in 2018: Amnesty
S. B. Zaki - Arab women before and after Islam: Opening the door of pre-Islamic Arabian history
Interview with Karima Bennoune, author of ‘Your fatwa does not apply here’...
Kamel Daoud - The Sexual Misery of the Arab world...
Book Review: Lost Enlightenment: Central Asia’s golden age...
Dubai princess, who tried to flee UAE, believed to be dead // Indian Action Under the Scanner as UN Rapporteur Probes Fate of Dubai Princess (Beti Bachao government in action)
A remarkable interview: BBC Hardtalk - Leila Slimani

RSS organisations in Dehradun force two colleges to say they won’t admit Kashmiris
A message and an appeal  
Peace as a punctuation mark in eternal war 


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