Saudi Arabia: Louijain Al-Hathloul Started A Hunger Strike Protesting Her Mistreatment In Prison.
Location: Saudi Arabia, Jeddah
Date: October 29, 2020Available in: 🇸🇦 عربي
Family members of prisoner of conscience Louijain Al-Hathloul announced that she started a hunger strike protesting her mistreatment and deprivation of contact with her family and lawyers in her imprisonment since the beginning of Covid-19 breakout. The Coalition For Women In Journalism calls upon the Saudi authorities to allow her to contact her family and lawyers. We also demand that this arbitrary imprisonment ends.
On October 27, Lina Al-Hathloul, Louijain’s sister, published a tweet announcing her sister’s hunger strike due to the inhumane treatment she is facing. Lina called upon the international community to uplift her sister’s case in the G20-Summit that was organized ironically by the Saudi government this year.
Louijain faces unfair charges and ill-treatment upon burlesque claims by the Saudi authorities. She is being punished for defying the patriarchal regime in Saudi Arabia and calling for Saudi women's basic rights.
Her hearing was supposed to take place in March 2020 and was postponed with no clear set date. All that Louijain is asking for now is regular contact with her family and humane treatment while she is imprisoned.
Since June 6, Loujain hasn't contacted her family or sent them letters. Loujain’s family 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.
While Saudi authorities and Prince crown Mohamed Bin Salman are parading their women's rights accomplishments and the new face of Saudi Arabia, prisoners of conscience and women rights defenders like Louijain Al-Hathloul and Nassima al-Sada, Samar Badawi, Maya Al-Zahrani, and Nouf Abdelaziz are in imprisonment.
Loujain Hathloul was arrested in May 2018 from her home in Riyadh. She spent 10 months in arbitrary detention. On March 13, 2019, Louijin stood for trial for the first time. She is being accused of receiving foreign funding to impose foreign agendas, attending international conferences and events, and 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 from mainly her father to be able to freely campaign for women’s rights.
CFWIJ has repeatedly issued alerts and demands about Louijain safety and health conditions and we urged the UN mechanism to review her case and comment on her mistreatment in her imprisonment. Regular visits and contact with family members and lawyers are the minimum demand that Louijain is calling for. Depriving prisoners of visits and regular contact with their legal defense is a grave breach of principles like fair trial and humane treatment.
The Coalition For Women In Journalism is appalled by the Suadi authorities' hypocrisy. We urge them to grant Louijain with her basic right to regular visits and set a date for her trial as soon as possible or preferably end this arbitrary imprisonment over flimsy allegations and release her immediately.
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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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