Loujain Al Hathloul, a young Saudi women’s rights activist held captive in Saudi Arabia since May 2018 for defying the ban on women driving, has won a prestigious award in France.
The Saudi activist was awarded the Freedom Prize, awarded by an international committee of 5,500 young people from 81 countries. In her absence, the award was handed to two members of her family.
The award was given by a Native American veteran of the Normandy landings, Charles Norman Shay. He said : “To Jane… you are only 31 years old and have experienced brutality. You were imprisoned and tortured because you drove a car in your country, Saudi Arabia.
“Thanks to your sacrifice, women are allowed to drive in Saudi Arabia, and this is a very important progress.” The award was announced exactly two years after the assassination of Saudi dissident journalist Jamal Khashoggi on October 2, 2018, in the Saudi consulate in Istanbul, by Saudi security forces.
The trial of scholar Salman al-Awdah in Saudi Arabia was postponed until December after it had been due to proceed in an antiterrorism court. He has been held for nearly two years in pre-trial detention, according to his son.
Al-Awdah faces the death penalty, and had been expected to appear in the Criminal Special Court in Riyadh in July.
But his son, Abdullah, made a statement on Twitter saying that the session had been postponed.
“Update in regard to the trial of my father in which the Saudi attorney general is seeking death penalty against him because of his activism. The session has been postponed for several months from today,” he tweeted.
This was the second postponement this year, after the cleric was arrested in September 2017 as part of a crackdown on dissidents.
Al-Awdah, who is in his early 60s, is a renowned Islamic scholar described by UN experts as a reformist.
He has a high level of international support and 14 million followers on Twitter.
He is reportedly facing the death penalty on public discord offences, and inciting people against the ruler. He is also accused of ties to the Muslim Brotherhood.
Al-Awdah was arrested just hours after tweeting his support for a possible reconciliation between Saudi Arabia and Qatar. The cleric’s family said Saudi authorities demanded al-Awdah publicly back the kingdom in its blockade of Qatar, but he refused.
Prominent Saudi dissident economist Essam Al-Zamil has been sentenced by a Saudi court to 15 years in prison after refusing to publish an interview with de facto ruler crown prince Mohammed bin Salman (MBS).
Al-Zamil, a software engineer, was named by Forbes magazine as “one of the most influential economic figures in the kingdom and founder of a pioneering information technology company”.
He had previously been given an award by King Salman for being the “youngest, most successful entrepreneur in the kingdom”.
Al-Zawil was held in pre-trial detention for three years before the ruling. He was also accused being a member of the Muslim Brotherhood and inciting protests. He was additionally charged with communicating with Qatar, which had been under blockade by Saudi Arabia since 2017.
The sentence was revealed on Twitter by human rights group Prisoners of Conscience. Their tweet said: “The economist Essam Al-Zamil was unjustly sentenced to 15 years imprisonment after three years of arbitrary detention.
“Al-Zamil deserved a ministerial position in the ministry of economy but the repressive authorities have imprisoned [him] since 2017.
“Now they have completed that human rights violation by issuing a 15-year prison sentence against him.
“We affirm our total rejection of this ruling and demand his immediate release.”
This case shows the fragility of MBS. For the “crime” of not publishing an interview with the crown prince, an innocent man is set to spend years in Saudi Arabia’s notoriously inhumane prison system.
Al-Zamil must be freed, and we call on all humanitarians around the world to take up his case, and to pressure Saudi Arabia into respecting natural justice – not stealing the freedom of those who dare to disagree with him.
Thousands of African migrant workers in Saudi Arabia have been locked up in horrific conditions in an apparent attempt to prevent the spread of coronavirus.
In an expose first revealed by the British Sunday Telegraph newspaper, photographs were leaked showing dozens of half-naked emaciated men crowded together into small rooms with barred windows. Detainees told journalists that they barely had enough food and water to survive.
The mainly Ethiopian men are seen in the photos living in hellish conditions. One image appears to show a dead body on the floor, reportedly that of a young man who died of heatstroke. Another photo shows a young man hanging himself, after he “lost hope”, according to fellow detainees.
Others showed scars and injuries resulting from abuse from guards.
One of the men told the Telegraph: “It’s hell in here. We are treated like animals and beaten every day.”
He added: “My only crime is leaving my country in search of a better life. But they beat us with whips and electric cords as if we were murderers.”
Another of the Ethiopian men told the Telegraph: “A young boy, about 16, managed to hang himself last month. The guards just throw the bodies out back as if it was trash.”
Detainees also claimed that disease was rife and toilets “overflowing”. Many had been due to be deported months ago, but were instead held captive.
Many of the detainees are thought to be migrant workers rounded up from cities, while others are refugees from war-torn Yemen.
Migrant workers are the backbone of the Saudi economy. They should be treated with the respect they deserve for making the kingdom what it is.
Saudi Arabia has enough money to provide decent healthcare and accommodation to all of these migrants. The international community should put pressure on the regime to ensure it complies with such standards. We call on Saudi Arabia to treat these migrants with a basic level of respect and humanity, not inflict such terrible horrors upon them when they have committed no crime.
Several prominent detainees in Saudi Arabia have been denied contact with lawyers and family members for months, according to Human Rights Watch.
In-person visits to prisoners have been banned under Covid-19 restrictions, but Saudi activists have claimed that many dissidents and others have been unduly prevented from contacting the outside world.
Saudi activists
Human Rights Watch’s deputy Middle East director Michael Page said: “Saudi authorities appear intent on making certain detainees and their loved ones suffer even further by denying them the ability to hear each other’s voices and know for certain they are OK.
“All prisoners should be allowed unfettered communication with their families and the world outside their prison cells, but especially so during these trying times.”
One women’s rights activist is said to have been prevented from phoning her family for more than two months, according to a family member. And prominent dissident cleric Salman al-Awda‘s family has not been heard from by his family since May.
Women’s rights activist, Loujain al-Hathloul, was finally allowed a visit from her parents in August after three months without contact. This followed a six-day hunger strike by the prominent activist, which she began after realising other prisoners were being allowed to call their families.
The three activists have been detained for more than three years, and all allege that their basic rights have been violated by being kept in abusive conditions.
The same is true for deposed former crown prince Mohammed bin Nayef, who has been detained without charge since March. It is unknown where the prince is currently kept. What calls he has made to family members have reportedly been while under duress.
Saudi Arabia must comply with global judicial norms, and allow detainees – especially those who have not been tried – to communicate with the legal team and friends and family. The kingdom’s fear of dissent is well known. To refuse prisoners their basic rights is an act of cowardice.
Eight men who are alleged to have committed protest-related crimes while they were children face the possibility of a death sentence in Saudi Arabia.
Group charge sheets analyzed by Human Rights Watch note that the men, who have been in pre-trial custody for up to two years, note that several of the accused allegedly committed crimes when they were between 14 and 17, with one alleged to have committed a non-violent crime while just nine years old. The defendants are all from a Shia minority area of Saudi Arabia.
The charges include “seeking to destabilize the social fabric by participating in protests and funeral processions,” “chanting slogans hostile to the regime,” and “seeking to incite discord and division”. The prosecutors, who are answerable to the king, are seeking to have them executed for these supposed “crimes”.
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The men were arrested between April 2017 and January 2018. Ahmad al-Faraj, Ali al-Batti, Mohammed al-Nimr, Ali al-Faraj and Mohammed al-Faraj have had just two trial hearings.
Michael Page, deputy Middle East director at Human Rights Watch, said: “If Saudi Arabia is serious about reforming its criminal justice system, it should start by banning the death penalty against alleged child offenders in all cases.”
Sources close to al-Nimr and al-Faraj allege that they were tortured and denied access to legal counsel. They are charged with crimes such as use of firearms and attacking police officers, although no police injuries were recorded. The charges were based on confessions, which may have been made during torture.
Saudi Arabia has a history of executing and threatening to execute people who allegedly committed crimes as children. In June 2019, prosecutors sought the death penalty against Murtaja Qureiris, 18, who allegedly committed offenses while just 10 or 11 years old. He was arrested at 13. His sentence was reduced to 12 years in prison following international pressure.
Criminalising the activities of children in this way is an outrage of justice. Saudi Arabia must comply with international norms regarding the treatment of children.
We also condemn the use of the death penalty by Saudi Arabia, especially in cases where the supposed crime was simply speaking out against the corrupt regime.
Saudi Arabia is continuing in its attempts to silence critics of its plans to displace tens of thousands of tribespeople from their land to make way for its Neom megacity project.
Over the past month, Saudi forces have detained two more members of the Huwaitat tribe, according to the Huwaitat spokesperson. The detentions occurred on Thursday, 1 October, and included the arrest of one Huwaitat member while at university.
Saudi Arabia has been trying to displace some 20,000 members of the Huwaitat tribe in order to build the $500bn Neom megacity on their land. Earlier this year, one member of the tribe, Abdul Rahim al-Huwaiti, was gunned down by Saudi forces in his home after campaigning against the displacement.
Spokesperson Alya Alhwaiti told the Independent: “When they started Neom in the beginning of 2016, Mohammed bin Salman promised them to be part of it and share in the development and improvement of the area.
“But in 2020, they are forced to leave their land without places to stay. And the minute you open your mouth or say something on social media, you disappear from the face of the earth.”
Alhwaiti, who is now based in London, said she has received death threats for advocating for the tribe, as well as threats to gouge her eyes and douse her in acid.
“The crown prince is forcing people to move, and terrifying and scaring them to move,” Alhwaiti told the Independent.
Saudi Arabia is infamous for its lack of human rights and brutality towards all those who speak out against the rule of de facto ruler crown prince Mohammed bin Salman.
If Neom is to be built, we demand that the Huwaitat are allowed to stay on their land, undisturbed. They should be permitted to benefit from the project, enjoying the economic benefits brought by Neom.
Unless that is the case, we urge all potential international partners, sponsors and investors to boycott Neom.
We also urge all human rights campaigners to take up the challenge of exposing the bloody truth about the project.
