ISTANBUL — A group of Saudi Arabia’s most prominent women’s rights advocates appeared in court in the Saudi capital Wednesday at the start of a trial that could signal whether the government intends to roll back an aggressive, years-long crackdown on political activists.
Ibrahim al-Sayari, the president of the Criminal Court, told reporters that 10 women are facing trial in Riyadh, including figures who spent decades at the forefront of a movement pushing for gender equality, according to the Reuters news service. Journalists and about a dozen diplomats were barred from attending the opening hearing because of what Sayari said were privacy concerns, Reuters reported.
The defendants include the country’s best-known feminist activists, including Aziza al-Yousef, Loujain al-Hathloul, Eman al-Nafjan and Hatoon al-Fassi, Sayari said, according to Reuters. Many of the women have been tortured while in custody, according to relatives and human rights groups. Saudi officials deny those allegations.
Saudi authorities began detaining the women last May, just weeks before the government lifted a female driving ban that the women’s rights activists had worked for years to repeal. Their arrests were part of a rolling crackdown, led by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, that analysts said was aimed at sidelining his competitors, consolidating power and portraying the crown prince, at home and abroad, as the sole architect of reform and progress in the kingdom.
The crackdown targeted prominent figures across Saudi society, including clerics, political activists, business executives and members of the royal family. The government said some of them were detained as part of an anti-corruption initiative. The arrest of the feminists, however, appeared aimed at sending a specific message: that women’s rights, should they be forthcoming, would be granted by the monarchy rather than won by grass-roots activists.
The kingdom has faced further intense scrutiny over its human rights record in the months since Saudi government agents killed Jamal Khashoggi, a Washington Post contributing columnist, in Istanbul in October. U.S. lawmakers have called for an investigation into Khashoggi’s killing as well as the release of the women’s rights activists and other political prisoners.
On Wednesday, Sen. Richard J. Durbin (D-Ill.), pressed the Trump administration’s nominee as ambassador to Saudi Arabia “on the need for accountability following the murder of Jamal Khashoggi,” according to a statement from Durbin’s office. During a meeting with the nominee, Gen. John Abizaid, Durbin raised the prosecution of the women’s rights activists as well as the cases of other imprisoned dissidents, the statement said.
ALQST, a Saudi rights group based in London, said Wednesday that the women are being charged under the country’s Cyber Crime law with offenses related to their activism, including contacting human rights groups. The charges carry sentences of up to five years in prison, but prosecutors have also asked the judge to “impose other discretionary punishments,” the group said on Twitter.
A Saudi government communications office did not respond to a request for information about the hearing. It is not clear whether the women have attorneys. Relatives of some of the women said that during their detention, they were not given access to legal representation.
Two prominent activists — Samar Badawi and Nassima al-Sadah — were not in court Wednesday, nor were several men who were detained about the same time as the women’s rights activists, according to people briefed on Wednesday’s session. It is unclear whether these other detainees have been referred to trial.
To continue reading, click here