Leading Saudi women’s rights activist’s family condemns potential 20-year jail sentence

‘They say she is a terrorist – in reality, she is a humanitarian, an activist and a woman who simply wants a better fairer world,’ says Loujain Al-Hathloul’s sister

Loujain al-Hathloul, who successfully campaigned to win Saudi women the right to drive, has allegedly been tortured in prison and recently launched a hunger strike over her jail conditions (Facebook/AFP/Getty)

The family of a leading Saudi women’s rights activist have condemned the state prosecutor office’s decision to seek the maximum possible jail sentence of 20 years for the imprisoned campaigner.

Loujain al-Hathloul, who successfully campaigned to win Saudi women the right to drive, has allegedly been tortured in prison and recently launched a hunger strike over her jail conditions.

Lina al-Hathloul, her younger sister, told The Independent during Thursday’s court hearing Loujain and their father were briefed on a secret report on her torture despite the public prosecution having denied torture charges.

She added: “My sister must be released. She should be lauded as a hero, instead, she is imprisoned and tortured. In the two and a half years since her arrest, she has endured beatings, sexual assault, hunger strikes and solitary confinement.

“All my sister has done is ask for women to be treated with the dignity and freedom that should be their right. For that, the Saudi authorities are seeking the maximum sentence available under the law – 20 years in prison.”

According to the Nobel prize-nominated activist’s family, on Wednesday the judge in the terrorism court said the verdict on Loujain’s case would be delivered on Monday.

However, they say they were then sent a text message an hour later calling them to the criminal court on Thursday, but are still unsure of what this development means.

Campaigners were left shocked after Loujain’s case was transferred from the criminal court to the terrorism court last month.

Human rights organisations say Loujain, a University of British Columbia graduate, has been forced to endure abuse including electric shocks, flogging and sexual harassment while in jail.

She was arrested alongside 10 other women’s rights activists in Saudi Arabia in May 2018 – weeks before the kingdom reversed the driving ban.

Heba Morayef, Amnesty International's regional director for the Middle East and North Africa region, told The Independent the decision to seek the maximum sentence for Loujain shines a light on the “relentless cruelty of the Saudi authorities”.

She added: “Loujain al-Hathloul is a brave defender of women’s rights who should not have spent a single day in detention. Her peaceful activism has driven momentous social change in Saudi Arabia.”

Kate Allen, the director of the UK branch of the leading human rights organisation, said they were highly concerned Saudi prosecutors are seeking the maximum prison sentence as she called for all charges against the 31-year-old activist to be dropped.

She added: “The only just outcome for this trial would be her immediate and unconditional release.”

Loujain is awaiting trial on charges of communicating with foreign bodies hostile to Saudi, recruiting government employees to collect confidential information, and delivering financial support to entities overseas who are hostile to the kingdom. Saudi officials have denied the torture allegations and said they were investigating claims of maltreatment.

Lucy Rae, a spokesperson for Grant Liberty, a human rights charity, said: “A regime that sees women’s activism as terrorism is deeply broken.

“This trial is a sham, her continued imprisonment a stain on the conscience of the world. And through this ludicrous charade, the murderers of Jamal Khashoggi are forcing Loujain’s health to ebb away.

A recent report claimed jailed women’s rights activists and political prisoners have been sexually assaulted, tortured and died in Saudi prisons. Grant Liberty, which conducted the report shared exclusively with The Independent last month, alleges 309 political prisoners have suffered human rights abuses since Mohammed bin Salman became crown prince of the kingdom in 2017.