Prisoners of Conscience

Children book documents the life and struggle detained Al-Hathloul

The detained Saudi activist and women’s rights defender, Loujain Al-Hathloul, inspired a book for children that tells her story, her struggle and her role in defending women’s rights.

The book entitled Lujain’s Dreams of Sunflowers is dedicated to children between the ages of 4 and 8.

The book tells the story of a girl who dreams of flying, to see an enormous field of sunflowers, even though she lives in a country where only males are allowed to fly.

The book will include appropriate information for this age group of children about the Saudi activist, her campaign to lift the Saudi ban on women driving, her imprisonment, and the global movement to defend the rights of girls and women.

The book is due to be released in the spring of 2022, her family and supporters said.

The Saudi authorities arrested Loujain Al-Hathloul, along with about ten activists, in May 2018, a few weeks before women were allowed to drive cars in Saudi Arabia.

Some of them were released on parole, while Lujain and others continued to be detained.

Media affiliated with the Al Saud regime accuse “Lujain” and other arrested activists of “treason.” At the same time, her family says that during her arrest, she was subjected to sexual harassment, torture, electric shocks, and waterboarding.

Loujain accused the former advisor to the Saudi royal court Saud Al-Qahtani of threatening to rape and kill her.

Recently, the Riyadh court referred Lujain to the Specialized Criminal Court that handles terrorism cases. Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan said that the detained activist was accused of contacting “unfriendly” countries and “providing confidential information”, he alleged.

Last November, 31 members of Parliament in Ireland signed an open letter calling on the Irish government to summon the Saudi ambassador to question him about the treatment of prisoner of conscientious women’s rights activist Loujain Al-Hathloul.

The parliament members demanded the Saudi authorities explain the reasons for denying Al-Hathloul the regular visit, and they also demanded that they grant them their right to visit immediately.

According to the letter, signed by 31 opposition members in the Irish Parliament and Senate, the members of Parliament expressed their solidarity with Loujain Al-Hathloul, who has been on hunger strike since October 26, 2020, to protest the conditions of detention, including the long-term denial of communication with her family.

Members of Parliament expressed their anger at Loujain’s arrest and condemned the brutal torture and sexual harassment to which she was subjected.

The letter said that Al-Hathloul’s case “sheds light on the terrible human rights record” of the Saudi authorities, in which they expressed their solidarity with them and with other women who were subjected to this treatment solely for the peaceful exercise of their basic rights.

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