Twelve detained Saudi women brutally repressed in 2021
Sanad Organization for Human Rights said that 12 Saudi women were arbitrarily arrested by state security forces in Saudi Arabia this year in light of the continued deterioration of the human rights situation.
The organization confirmed that 12 women from inside the Kingdom were subjected to arbitrary arrest, as part of separate campaigns in different cities, in addition to campaigns of arrests targeting elite academics, citizens and activists.
According to the organization, the Saudi authorities have arrested more than 100 women since bin Salman took over the position of crown prince 4 years ago, to suffer the bitterness of imprisonment and abuse, as about 60 of them are still in arbitrary detention.
The human rights organization held the Saudi authorities responsible for Saudis’ violations and suppression in the country.
The Saudi authorities use media disinformation to legitimize the repression of activists, opposition figures, and expressions of opinion through defamation and malicious charges against them.
The authorities seek to legitimize crimes of repression, especially against women, through false media misinformation, malicious accusations, and unfair defamation.
Among the most prominent female prisoners of conscience who have been subjected to defamation and malicious accusations of treason and others are Loujain al-Hathloul, Aziza al-Yousef, Samar Badawi and others.
About 60 female activists are still suffering from arbitrary detention in light of the continuous violations committed by the jailers against them, far from the media, and with the explicit complicity of state officials.
The Saudi authorities claim that they give freedom to the released, but they force most released ones, including the activists, to sign a set of dehumanizing conditions.
Many of the detained female activists are subjected to what is known as “conditional release”, where the authorities impose several restrictions and force the released women to sign them.
Among the most prominent detainees who have faced conditional release are Loujain Al-Hathloul, Aziza Al-Youssef, Iman Al-Nafjan, Abeer Namankani, Shadan Al-Anazi, Sheikha Al-Urf, Aisha Al-Marzouq, and many others.
Amnesty International recently warned of the consequences of the conditions imposed by the Saudi authorities on the released female activists.
The human rights organization highlighted that activist Loujain al-Hathloul risks being re-arrested and tried before the Specialized Criminal Court if it is found that she violated the terms of her release, and her case is only one example of how the Specialized Criminal Court is used to silence and punish peaceful activists.
This comes as human rights sources revealed that Saudi activist Najla Al-Marwan was subjected to enforced disappearance after she was kidnapped by State Security about 40 days ago for expressing of opinion and her reform activism.
Activist Naglaa Abdel Aziz Muhammad Al-Marwan was arbitrarily arrested by State Security on July 20, 2021, from her home in the capital, Riyadh.
According to the sources, the authorities refrain from revealing any information regarding the conditions of activist Najla inside the prison, despite the passage of more than a month since her arrest, as the family does not know any information about her.
The number of female activists forcibly disappeared in government prisons reached eight, namely, Yasmine Al-Ghafaili, Asma Al-Subaie, Zainab Al-Hashemi, Fawzia Al-Zahrani, Rina Abdel Aziz, Najla Al-Marwan, Lina Al-Sharif, as well as Amani Al-Zein.
According to the Declaration of the General Assembly of the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance, each act of enforced disappearance is a crime against human dignity and is condemned as a denial of the purposes of the Charter of the United Nations and a grave and flagrant violation of human rights and fundamental freedoms contained in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, reaffirmed and developed by international instruments issued in this regard.
