Loujain Al-Hathloul Conditionally Released After More Than 1000 days
On 10 March 2021, the Riyadh Appeals Court rejected the appeal that the charge of "communicating with external parties" against woman human rights defender Loujain Al-Hathloul be dropped. The rejection of the appeal and upholding of the charge means that the five year travel restriction against her will remain in place.
Loujain Al-Hathloul was released on 10 February 2021, after spending more than 1,000 days in arbitrary detention.
On 10 February 2021, woman human rights defender Loujain Al-Hathloul was released after being detained for more than 1,000 days.
On 28 December 2020, Saudi woman human rights defender, Loujain Al-Hathloul, was sentenced to five years and eight months in prison by the Saudi Specialised Criminal Court, a court established for the purposes of terrorism-related cases.
On 25 November 2020, the Criminal Court of Riyadh ruled that it has no jurisdiction over the case of woman human rights defender Loujain Al-Hathloul, and transferred her case to the Specialised Criminal Court which deals with cases of terrorism.
On 26 October 2020, woman human rights defender Loujain Al-Hathloul began an open-ended hunger strike in protest against her detention conditions and against the continued arbitrary refusal to permit regular phone calls with her family.
On 31 August 2020, the family of woman human rights defender Loujain Al-Hathloul were able to visit her for the first time in three months.
21 July 2020: The family of woman human rights defender Loujain Al-Hathloul have been unable to contact her for the past six weeks, causing them to grow increasingly concerned for her well-being.
28 May 2020: The family of woman human rights defender Loujain Al-Hathloul are increasingly concerned for her well-being as they have not heard from her in two weeks. This has led them to worry for her health and her whereabouts.
On 12 February 2020, woman human rights defender Loujain Al-Hathloul was presented before the Specialised Criminal Court in Riyadh. Before the second hearing of her case, she had been held in solitary confinement for 287 days.
On 13 March, Loujain al-Hathloul, Aziza al-Yousef, Eman al-Nafjan, Hatoon Al-Fassi, Nouf Abdulaziz, Mayya Alzahrani, Amal Alharbi, Eman Alnafjan appeared before court, and were charged with “communicating with external hostile powers, providing financial support to external parties, and luring and exploiting minors to work against the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.”
On 15 May 2018, Saudi authorities detained human rights defender Loujain Al-Hathloul at her home in Riyadh amid an ongoing crackdown on human rights defenders, including women's rights defenders. She has not yet faced charges.
Loujain Al-Hathloul is a women's rights defender and blogger who has advocated for gender equality and women's right to drive in Saudi Arabia. She actively participated in the Saudi Women Driving Campaign since 2013, and posted videos of herself encouraging women to drive their cars.
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- About
- 12 March 2021 : Charges upheld against Loujain Al-Hathloul
- 10 February 2021 : Loujain Al-Hathloul Conditionally Released After 1000 days
- 28 December 2020 : Loujain Al-Hathloul Sentenced
- 26 November 2020 : Loujain Al-Hathloul’s case transferred to Specialised Criminal Court
- 29 October 2020 : Loujain Al-Hathloul begins open ended hunger strike
- 8 September 2020 : Family of Loujain Al-Hathloul permitted to visit her
- 21 July 2020 : Family of Loujain Al-Hathloul unable to contact her
- 28 May 2020 : Loujain Al-Hathlou's family concerned for her well-being
- 14 February 2020 : Second hearing of Loujain Al-Hathloul
- 13 March 2019 : Loujain Al-Hathloul and WHRDs brought to court and charged
- 21 May 2018 : Ongoing crackdown on women human rights' defenders
On 10 March 2021, the Riyadh Appeals Court rejected the appeal that the charge of "communicating with external parties" against woman human rights defender Loujain Al-Hathloul be dropped. The rejection of the appeal and upholding of the charge means that the five year travel restriction against her will remain in place.
Loujain Al-Hathloul was released on 10 February 2021, after spending more than 1,000 days in arbitrary detention.
On 10 February 2021, woman human rights defender Loujain Al-Hathloul was released after being detained for more than 1,000 days.
Loujain Al-Hathloul will remain on probation for three years following her release and during this time she can be detained if she commits an act considered illegal by the authorities. The woman human rights defender has also been issued a five year travel ban. Her family urged people to refrain from saying that Loujain Al-Hathloul has been "freed, as there has been no independent investigation into the charges, and being under probation and travel ban means she is still..[at] risk to be detained again.”
On 28 December 2020 Loujain Al-Hathloul was sentenced to five years and eight months in prison by the Saudi Specialised Criminal Court, a court established for the purposes of terrorism-related cases. During her detention the woman human rights defender reported being subjected to torture, sexual harassment and threatened with sexual assault.
On 28 December 2020, Saudi woman human rights defender, Loujain Al-Hathloul, was sentenced to five years and eight months in prison by the Saudi Specialised Criminal Court, a court established for the purposes of terrorism-related cases.
In what has been documented to be a patently unfair judicial process, including credible allegations of torture by Loujain Al-Hathloul, the Saudi authorities brought to a close a two and a half year effort to silence and intimidate the prominent HRD.
The verdict of 5 years and 8 months was mitigated by a suspension of 2 years and 10 months of the sentence along with 'credit' for time served, leaving her with approximately 2 months of prison time left to serve, as reported by her family. Additionally, she has been banned from travel for five years. Both Loujain Al-Hathloul and the public prosecutor can appeal the verdict.
Front Line Defenders strongly condemns what can only be understood as a political show trial, even as it looks forward to the day when Loujain will finally be released from prison. The additional punitive measure of the travel ban seems intended to reduce Saudia Arabia's international exposure on human rights abuses - an effort to further silence Loujain Al-Hathloul.
On 25 November 2020, the Criminal Court of Riyadh ruled that it has no jurisdiction over the case of woman human rights defender Loujain Al-Hathloul, and transferred her case to the Specialised Criminal Court which deals with cases of terrorism. The decision of the court comes more than one year after the start of Loujain Al-Hathloul’s trial. On 13 March 2019, Loujain Al-Hathloul was accused of “communicating with external hostile powers, providing financial support to external parties, and luring and exploiting minors to work against the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.”.
According to the family of the woman human rights defender, Loujain Al-Hathloul looked weak and shook uncontrollably during the court hearing on 25 November 2020. On 26 October 2020, Loujain Al-Hathloul began an open-ended hunger strike, which lasted for two weeks. The woman human rights defender told her parents that she ended her hunger strike because the prison guards were consistently waking her up every two hours throughout the night, leaving her feeling extremely sleep deprived.
On 26 October 2020, woman human rights defender Loujain Al-Hathloul began an open-ended hunger strike in protest against her detention conditions and against the continued arbitrary refusal to permit regular phone calls with her family. The woman human rights defender has been frequently harassed by the prison administration who have previously blocked family visits and phone calls. On 31 August 2020, was she permitted to meet with her family after being cut off for three months. While she can intermittently meet with her family, poor prison conditions, mistreatment and the continued restriction of her communication with her family by phone has motivated her to go on hunger strike until appropriate conditions are restored.
On 31 August 2020, the family of woman human rights defender Loujain Al-Hathloul were able to visit her for the first time in three months. Before the family visit, Loujain Al-Hathloul was on a hunger strike for 6 days to protest against the ban on her from making phone calls, which highly affected her health condition. The woman human rights defender suspended her hunger strike after the family visit was permitted.
The family of woman human rights defender Loujain Al-Hathloul have been unable to contact her for the past six weeks, causing them to grow increasingly concerned for her well-being. Her family are particularly concerned in the context of COVID-19 and the unsanitary conditions in many Saudi prisons. They have also been prevented from visiting her and as a result, have not seen her in four months.
The defender has been arbitrarily detained since May 2018 and during this time has been subjected to torture and sexual harassment by prison authorities.
The family of woman human rights defender Loujain Al-Hathloul are increasingly concerned for her well-being as they have not heard from her in two weeks. This has led them to worry for her health and her whereabouts.
May 2020 marks two years since the arbitrary detention of woman human rights defender Loujain Al-Hathloul. During her detention she has been subjected to torture and sexual harassment. Loujain Al-Hathloul's third hearing was scheduled to take place on 11 March 2020, but was rescheduled to an undisclosed date as a result of COVID-19.
On 12 February 2020, woman human rights defender Loujain Al-Hathloul was presented before the Specialised Criminal Court in Riyadh. Before the second hearing of her case, she had been held in solitary confinement for 287 days.
During this session Loujain Al-Hathloul submitted her defence. She was asked to give a response in the next hearing session scheduled for 11 March 2020, but without access to evidences used against her. During the hearing, the Public Prosecutor denied that the defender had been tortured.
The prison administration recently asked Loujain Al-Hathloul to stop her correspondence with the Human Rights Commission, which she refused.
Loujain Al-Hathloul was detained in May 2018. She has been subjected to torture and sexual harassment in prison. She is facing charges of “communicating with external hostile powers, providing financial support to external parties, and luring and exploiting minors to work against the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.”
On 13 March, Loujain al-Hathloul, Aziza al-Yousef, Eman al-Nafjan, Hatoon Al-Fassi, Nouf Abdulaziz, Mayya Alzahrani, Amal Alharbi, Eman Alnafjan appeared before court, and were charged with “communicating with external hostile powers, providing financial support to external parties, and luring and exploiting minors to work against the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.”
The WHRDs were not informed of the charges before the hearing, and were not permitted to speak during the proceedings. No lawyers and no foreign journalists were permitted to attend the hearing. They were due to appear before a special court established for terrorism cases, but this was changed at the last minute to a criminal court.
Prior to the hearing today, reports have emerged about the WHRDs facing sexual harassment and torture in prison, and have previously been denied access to lawyers.
On 15 May 2018, Saudi authorities detained human rights defender Loujain Al-Hathloul at her home in Riyadh amid an ongoing crackdown on human rights defenders, including women's rights defenders. She has not yet faced charges.
Loujain Al-Hathloul is a women's rights defenders and blogger who has advocated for gender equality and women's right to drive in Saudi Arabia. She has been actively participating in the Saudi Women Driving Campaign since 2013, and has posted videos of herself encouraging women to drive their cars within the context of this campaign.
On 17 May, Saudi authorities detained Loujain Al-Hathloul, along with several other human rights defenders and activists who have been campaigning for women's rights. Among the other detainees are Dr. Ibrahim AlModaimeegh, Dr. Aisha AlMana, Madeha AlAjroush, Aziza AlYousef, Professor Eman AlNafjan, and Mohammad AlRabea. Loujain Al-Hathloul is being held in incommunicado detention and denied an access to her lawyers and family.
This is not the first time the Saudi authorities have have targeted Loujain Al-Hathlul. She was briefly detained in June 2017 at Dammam airport and banned from travelling. She was also arrested in December 2014 and spent more than two months in detention on charges of "breaching public order" and "overriding the guardian's authority".
Front Line Defenders is seriously concerned about the detention of human rights defender Loujain Al-Hathloul and is worried about her safety and physical well being.
Front Line Defenders urges the authorities in Saudi Arabia to:
1. Immediately and unconditionally release Loujain Al-Hathloul and other human rights defenders who have been recently detained, as Front Line Defenders believes that they are being held solely as a result of their legitimate and peaceful human rights work;
2. Allow Loujain Al-Halthloul immediate and unfettered access to her family and her lawyers;
3. Ensure that Loujain Al-Hathloul's treatment, while in detention, adheres to the conditions set out in the 'Body of Principles for the Protection of All Persons under Any Form of Detention or Imprisonment', adopted by UN General Assembly resolution 43/173 of 9 December 1988;
4. Take all necessary measures to guarantee the physical and psychological integrity and security of Loujain Al-Hathloul;
5. Cease targeting all human rights defenders and bloggers in Saudi Arabia in all circumstances, so that they are able to carry out their legitimate human rights activities without fear of reprisals and free of all restrictions including judicial harassment.
