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Updated February 12th, 2021 at 11:31 IST

Saudi women empowerment 'a lie', says sister of Loujain al-Hathloul after her release

Family of Saudi activist Loujain al-Hathloul issued a scathing rebuke to Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, a day after the women’s rights defender was released.

Reported by: Bhavya Sukheja
Saudi
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The family of Saudi activist Loujain al-Hathloul issued a scathing rebuke to Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, a day after the women’s rights defender was released from prison. Hathloul, was arrested after she pushed for the removal of the ban on driving for women in Saudi Arabia. She was sentenced to 6 years in jail in December 2020 and was charged under the Islamic nation’s counterterrorism law. 

Her arrest alongside several other female activist cast doubt on a rapid-fire series of measures that the Crown Prince had billed as part of a sweeping reform agenda. After Mohammed bin Salman, also known as MBS, jailed Hathloul, critics had even accused him of trying to monopolise credit for the women’s rights reforms. The prince had cancelled many kingdom’s ultra-conservative rules, however, he was also rapidly consolidating his power in the royal court, and ramping up the kingdom’s crackdown on dissent. 

According to CNN, following the release of Hathloul, Brussels-based Lina al-Hathloul, who was a driving force behind the international campaign for her sister's release, said that “women empowerment is a lie in Saudi Arabia, there are no real reforms”. She added that people are still oppressed and even more so now. “There is really an atmosphere of fear under MBS,” Lina said. 

READ: Saudi Arabia Activist Who Advocated Driving Rights For Women Released From Prison

READ: Saudi TV: Yemen Rebel Attack On Abha Airport

Released on three-year probation 

Hathloul was kept in solitary confinement for more than 1000 days under pre-trial detention and charged for acting against the country’s laws by causing an uproar via internet use, and for infusing ‘foreign’ reforms and causing disorder. The 31 years old was detained in May 2018, after she launched a campaign in favour of women’s rights, and was accused of incitement against the regime by the Saudi Arabia government. But the prosecutor, on Wednesday, suspended two years and 10 months of Al-Hathloul’s sentence and set her release date for March. 

This comes after the US shifted its posture in its diplomacy with Saudi Arabia and US President Joe Biden has kept human rights central as he reaccessed partnership with Saudi as opposed to the Trump administration, who Biden campaign had accused of “writing Saudi Arabia blank cheques”. Al-Hathloul, whose arrest was widely condemned worldwide, including by the United Nations and global human rights groups was set free by a terror tribunal court, however, on terms that she would be on probation for three years. This means any perceived illegal activity by the activist could lead to her detention, including 5 years of suspension on travelling, the family said in a statement cited by AP. 

READ: US Discusses 'human Rights Issues' And 'Yemen War' With Saudi Arabia: State Department

READ: Iran: US' Withdrawal From Saudi-led Military Offensive In Yemen Does Not End 'war'

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Published February 12th, 2021 at 11:33 IST

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