Saudi Arabia activist who advocated driving rights for women released from prison

Saudi Arabia on February 10 released a prominent women’s rights activist Loujain al-Hathloul from the prison, having held her in detention for nearly three years. According to the family’s statement, cited by The Associated Press, the woman was set free after the US President Joe Biden’s administration pressurized Riyadh to reform its human-rights accords. The women’s rights activist was arrested after she pushed for the removal of the ban on driving for women in Saudi Arabia. She was sentenced to 6 years in jail in December 2020 and was charged under the Islamic nation’s counterterrorism law. Al-Hathloul was kept in solitary confinement for more than 1000 days under pre-trial detention and charged for acting against the country’s laws by causing an uproar via internet use, and for infusing ‘foreign’ reforms and causing disorder. 

“Loujain is at home, Loujain has been released,” The activist’s sister Lina al-Hathloul, who currently lives in Europe, wrote on Twitter sharing Al-Hathloul’s screenshot from the video chat. The 31 years old was detained in May 2018, after she launched a campaign in favour of women’s rights, and was accused of incitement against the regime by the Saudi Arabia government. But the prosecutor, on Wednesday, suspended two years and 10 months of Al-Hathloul’s sentence and set her release date for March. This comes after the US shifted its posture in its diplomacy with Saudi Arabia and US President Joe Biden has kept human rights central as he reaccessed partnership with Saudi as opposed to the Trump administration, who Biden campaign had accused of “writing Saudi Arabia blank cheques”. 

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Biden announces news

Al-Hathloul, whose arrest was widely condemned worldwide, including by the United Nations and global human rights groups was set free by a terror tribunal court, however, on terms that she would be on probation for three years. This means any perceived illegal activity by the activist could lead to her detention, including 5 years of suspension on travelling, the family said in a statement cited by AP. Meanwhile, announcing the activist’s release, Biden told a conference at the Pentagon “I have some welcome news that the Saudi government has released a prominent human rights activist.” He added, “She was a powerful activist for women’s rights, and releasing her was the right thing to do.” Biden had intensified the scrutiny of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman's human rights record, and in his recent remarks appreciated Saudi's decision, saying that "it was right thing to do." 

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