{"id":4068,"date":"2020-12-28T16:52:55","date_gmt":"2020-12-28T16:52:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.radiofree.org\/?p=144087"},"modified":"2020-12-28T16:52:55","modified_gmt":"2020-12-28T16:52:55","slug":"conviction-of-loujain-al-hathloul-in-saudi-arabia-condemned-as-blatant-attack-on-the-most-basic-human-rights","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/2020\/12\/28\/conviction-of-loujain-al-hathloul-in-saudi-arabia-condemned-as-blatant-attack-on-the-most-basic-human-rights\/","title":{"rendered":"Conviction of Loujain al-Hathloul in Saudi Arabia Condemned as ‘Blatant Attack on the Most Basic Human Rights’"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Fellow human rights defenders and family on Monday slammed the conviction of Loujain al-Hathloul by a terrorism court in Saudi Arabia and reiterated demands<\/a> for the immediate, unconditional release of the 31-year-old leader<\/a> in the country’s movement to allow women to drive.<\/p>\n

Al-Hathloul, who has been detained since May 2018, was sentenced to five years and eight months in prison. With credit for time served and the judge’s decision to suspend two years and 10 months of her sentence, she could be released in about two months. Her sister, Lina al-Hathloul, said she will also be subjected to a five-year travel ban.<\/p>\n

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“Loujain cried when she heard the sentence today,” Lina al-Hathloul tweeted Monday. “After nearly three years of arbitrary detention, torture, solitary confinement\u2014they now sentence her and label her a terrorist. Loujain will appeal the sentence and ask for another investigation regarding torture #FreeLoujain<\/a>.”<\/p>\n

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To hear this news of Loujain’s tears is beyond heartbreaking. She has fought for so long for so many people and is our duty to never give up on fighting for her. <\/p>\n

Loujain deserves Unconditional Freedom Today and Everyday.#FreeLoujain<\/a> pic.twitter.com\/qC6yHInrSf<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2014 Uma Mishra #BlackLivesMatter #FreeSaudiActivists (@umajmishra) December 28, 2020<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n

As the Associated Press<\/em> reported<\/a>:<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Al-Hathloul was found guilty and sentenced to five years and eight months by the kingdom’s anti-terrorism court on charges of agitating for change, pursuing a foreign agenda, using the internet to harm public order, and cooperating with individuals and entities that have committed crimes under anti-terror laws, according to state-linked Saudi news site Sabq<\/em>. The charges all come under the country’s broadly worded counterterrorism law.<\/p>\n

…Al-Hathloul rejected an offer to rescind her allegations of torture in exchange for early release, according to her family. A court recently dismissed her allegations, citing a lack of evidence. <\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

In a statement, Lina al-Hathloul said that “Loujain stands for any citizen who speaks out with love for their country and wants the best for their country.”<\/p>\n

Human rights advocates worldwide on Monday expressed solidarity with the al-Hathloul family, drew attention to the human rights record of the Saudi regime, and took aim at Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, also known globally as MBS.<\/p>\n

Loujain al-Hathloul, who has a month to appeal the verdict, was arrested shortly before the kingdom gave women the right to drive in 2018. The following year, Saudi Arabia’s Council of Ministers approved<\/a> a royal decree put forth by the crown prince to relax some restrictions on women under the kingdom’s “guardianship” system.<\/p>\n

“If the Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman was genuinely concerned with women’s rights, Loujain would not have been thrown in jail and subjected to this sort of abuse. It only proves how performative his ‘reforms’ were,” declared Danaka Katovich, the Yemen campaign coordinator for the women-led peace group CodePink.<\/p>\n

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We are horrified that @LoujainHathloul<\/a> has been sentenced to 5 years and 8 months in prison for the “crime” of peaceful activism. So much for Saudi Arabia’s “reforms” under MbS. #FreeLoujain<\/a> immediately!<\/p>\n

\u2014 CODEPINK (@codepink) December 28, 2020<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n

CodePink national co-director Ariel Gold said that “we stand with the al-Hathloul family and their friends who have not given up, and continue to call on the Saudi government to free Loujain.”<\/p>\n

“Around the same time as Loujain’s sentencing, the Trump administration notified Congress of its intent to sell Saudi Arabia $478 million in weapons,” Gold added. “The U.S.’s friendly relationship with the brutal misogynistic government of Saudi Arabia is shameful. We hope the Biden administration will block this latest weapons deal and act for justice for Loujain and all Saudi women.”<\/p>\n

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President-elect Joe Biden has promised to reevaluate U.S.-Saudi relations upon taking office next month. President Donald Trump’s administration has maintained a friendly relationship <\/a>with Saudi Arabia’s leadership, particularly MBS, despite alarm over the kingdom’s human rights record, which ramped up in the wake of the brutal 2018 assassination<\/a> of journalist Jamal Khashoggi.<\/p>\n

PEN America has demanded both accountability for Khashoggi’s murder and al-Hathloul’s release. Last year, the group honored<\/a> al-Hathloul, <\/span>Nouf Abdulaziz, and Eman Al-Nafjan with the PEN\/Barbey Freedom to Write<\/span> Award\u2014praising “these gutsy women” for challenging “one of the world’s most notoriously misogynist governments.”<\/p>\n

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