Saudi Arabia: Is The Crown Prince A Women Liberator Or Oppressor? Prisoner Of Conscience Loujain Al-Hathloul’s Safety And Fate Remains Ambiguous

Location: Saudi Arabia
Date: July 28, 2020

Available in: 🇸🇦  عربي

Feminist Human Rights Defender and prisoner of conscience, Loujain A-Hathloul's fate remains ambiguous for over two months. The Coalition For Women In Journalism calls upon Saudi authorities to reveal details of Loujin’s condition and release her immediately.

Since June 6, Loujain hasn't contacted her family or sent them letters. Some unconfirmed news circulating on social media platforms claims that she died in jail, which the Saudi authorities have refused to deny or confirm.

Loujain’s family has launched a social media campaign inquiring about her condition and calling upon the regime to either allow them to contact and visit her or to issue a statement clarifying her health conditions.

Loujain’s brother in his interview with CNN explained that there’s a clear lack of transparency about her condition during detention. He elaborated that the family submitted several requests to the public prosecutor to investigate Loujain’s torture and sexual assault claims that were perpetuated by one of the Crown Prince’s aides Saoud Al-Qahtani, who threatened to rape her. But so far, the prosecutor didn’t take these complaints seriously. This lack of transparency has left the family unaware about Loujain since June 6.

While the Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman is exerting efforts to present himself as the liberator of women in Saudi Arabia by permitting women to drive and giving them the right to travel without a guardian or a permit, he has not released women human rights defenders or prisoners of conscience, who remain detained for demanding the right to drive or expressing their opinions. Loujin and dozens of women human rights defenders continue to be oppressed, jailed, and their fate remains unknown.

The Crown Prince’s aide Al-Qahtani is accused not only of brutally murdering Jamal Khashoggi but also torturing and sexually assaulting Loujain. Al-Qahtani remains untouchable because the Crown Prince protects him.

In an interview with Bloomberg, the Crown Prince claimed that Loujain is charged with being a spy, receiving foreign funding to implement foreign agendas. In another interview with CBS, he denied to comment on Loujain’s torture.

CFWIJ spoke with Loujin’s sister Lina Al-Hathloul who stated that they are concerned about her health conditions. “She used to call the family weekly but since June, we haven't heard anything from her. With the Covid-19 breakout, we are skeptical about her health conditions. We hope to hear from her soon” said Lina.

Loujain was arrested in May 2018, from her home in Riyadh. She spent 10 months in arbitrary detention. She stood for trial for the first time on March 13, 2019. She is accused of receiving foreign funding to impose foreign agendas, attending international conferences and events, along with other burlesque claims. Loujain started her activism to demand women's right to drive in Saudi Arabia in 2012. Coming from a progressive family, she received immense support, mainly from her father, to be able to freely campaign for women’s rights.

Women in Saudi Arabia are now granted the right to drive but women rights defenders say that true reform will be visible when all human rights defenders, who are jailed for expressing their opinion on the matter, are released.

CFWIJ has also been monitoring the recent cyberbullying and hacking attempts on women journalists, Ghada Ouies, and Ola Fares by trolls, which were further amplified by Saudi and Emirati public figures. These attacks, detentions and torture of women human rights defenders including Loujin Hathloul, Samar Badawy, Nassima al-Sada, Nouf Abdulaziz, and Maya’a al-Zahrani exposes the Crown Prince as a women oppressor.

CFWIJ is concerned about Loujain’s safety and urges Saudi authorities to allow her to contact her family and assure them about her safety. We demand the immediate release of all the women human rights defenders and prisoners of conscience who have been arbitrarily kept behind bars in Saudi Arabia.

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The Coalition For Women In Journalism is a global organization of support for women journalists. The CFWIJ pioneered mentorship for mid-career women journalists across several countries around the world, and is the first organization to focus on the status of free press for women journalists. We thoroughly document cases of any form of abuse against women in any part of the globe. Our system of individuals and organizations brings together the experience and mentorship necessary to help female career journalists navigate the industry. Our goal is to help develop a strong mechanism where women journalists can work safely and thrive.

Follow us on Instagram @womeninjournalism and Twitter @CFWIJ. Our website is WomenInJournalism.org and we can be reached at press@womeninjournalism.org

The Coalition For Women In Journalism closely monitors the incidents in Turkey with great concern. Since March 8, Women's Day, police violence against women journalists increasingly continues in the country. As the coalition, we urge the Turkish state to provide a free environment for journalists. Following the news is our most fundamental democratic right to report. We demand the immediate release of our detained colleagues. Journalism is not a crime. Journalism cannot be prevented.

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