Female drivers stage protest outside Saudi embassy in London as detention of women's rights defenders reaches 100 days

'The real drivers of change in Saudi are these women activists but the government is silencing them and putting them behind bars,' Amnesty tells The Independent

Demonstrators have staged a driving protest outside the Saudi Arabian embassy in London to show their opposition to the fact 100 days have passed since women’s rights defenders were detained in the country.

Three leading human rights defenders – Loujain al-Hathloul, Iman al-Nafjan and Aziza al-Yousef – were all imprisoned on 15 May. At least 11 prominent human rights defenders in Saudi Arabia have been detained without charge since May.

The “Beep for Freedom” protest, which was organised by Amnesty International, saw activists beep their car horns outside the central London embassy on Thursday morning.

“We had activists driving cars and beeping their horns and a group of women chanting outside the embassy. The atmosphere was energetic, defiant and powerful,” Chiara Capraro, women’s human rights programme manager at Amnesty International UK, told The Independent.

“We know that Saudi wants the rest of world to think they are making progress on human rights but this is a sham given the activists who are standing up for human rights have been behind bars for 100 days.”

Amnesty is calling on the British government to publicly condemn the arrests of the women and pressure the Saudi government into releasing them.

A Foreign and Commonwealth Office spokeswoman told The Independent: “The UK is a strong supporter of human rights. We regularly raise our concerns with the Saudi Government about human rights issues, including the recent arrests of human rights defenders.”

Ms Capraro said they had no information about when the three women – who she said have no legal representation – will be released and no timeframe for their trial.

“The conditions in Saudi prisons are notorious for not being respectful of human rights, so it will be a trying time for them,” she said. “I hope that some of the noise will reach the women in Saudi and their families who are standing up for them and make them feel like they are not alone.”

The protest is one of a number being staged by Amnesty across the world over the next month – with demonstrations also taking place across France, Spain, Norway and Belgium.

Ms Capraro dismissed Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s attempt to portray himself as a reformer in recent months as a “PR exercise”, given the crackdown on the women who are detained.

“We know the real drivers of change in Saudi are these women activists but the government is silencing them and putting them behind bars. We are seeing through this sham. It is laughable the government celebrates lifting the driving ban on 24 June when on 15 May they arrested the three women who campaigned against the ban.”

Ms al-Hathloul, Ms al-Nafjan and Ms al-Yousef have faced accusations in state-aligned media, which include setting up a “cell” and posing a threat to state security for their “contact with foreign entities with the aim of undermining the country’s stability and social fabric”.

The three women may be charged and tried by the country’s notorious counterterror court, which has previously been employed to try human rights defenders and hand out harsh prison sentences, according to Amnesty.

Earlier this month two more leading women human rights activists – Samar Badawi and Nassima al-Sada – were also detained. Mohammed al-Bajadi, another prominent women’s rights activist, was also detained in May.

The crackdown started shortly before Saudi Arabia lifted its ban on women driving in the country. Many of the activists who have been detained campaigned for many years for the right to drive and to end the guardianship laws that give male relatives final say over a woman marrying or travelling abroad.

Samah Hadid, Amnesty International’s Middle East Director of Campaigns, said: “It is absolutely outrageous that so many brave human rights defenders in Saudi Arabia are still being held without charge – apparently for simply speaking out against injustice.

“They have been detained without charge and with no legal representation for more than three months. This must not go on any longer. The world cannot carry on looking the other way as this relentless persecution of those who stand up for human rights in Saudi Arabia continues.

“Saudi Arabia must release all prisoners of conscience immediately and unconditionally, and end the draconian crackdown on freedom of expression in the country.”

London’s protest comes as human rights groups warn a female Shia activist detained in Saudi Arabia since December 2015 may be beheaded.

Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch and other groups have said that Israa al-Ghomgham and at least four other activists face execution for participating in the 2011 Arab Spring protests in eastern Saudi Arabia’s Shia heartland.

Human Rights Watch said Ms al-Ghomgham is the “first female activist to possibly face the death penalty for her human rights-related work, which sets a dangerous precedent for other women activists currently behind bars”.

The US state department said it is aware of al-Ghomgham’s case and remains “deeply concerned by the detention of activists in Saudi Arabia”.