Saudi activist who fought for women’s right to drive is sentenced to prison
One of Saudi Arabia’s best-known prisoners, women’s rights activist Loujain al-Hathloul, was sentenced Monday to five years and eight months in prison, capping a 2 1⁄2- year legal ordeal that rights groups and her supporters called punishment for her political advocacy.
Al-Hathloul was first arrested in May 2018 along with others who had pushed to end a ban on women driving. She was later charged with undermining the kingdom and its political system by communicating with foreign diplomats, journalists and rights organizations and pushing for women’s rights.
The judge suspended two years and 10 months of her sentence. With credit for the time that she has already served, her family said, she could be released in about two months. AlHathloul was also placed on probation for three years and barred from traveling outside Saudi Arabia for five years.
Al-Hathloul has said that during her time in prison she and other inmates have been subject to sexual harassment and torture, including beatings and electric shocks, but a judge last week rejected a complaint that she filed about the alleged torture after the government cleared itself of wrongdoing in an investigation that her family said amounted to a cover-up.
The kingdom transferred her case last month to a special court that usually handles terrorism and national-security crimes. Still, the sentence she received Monday fell well short of the 20-year maximum that prosecutors had sought.
Al-Hathloul, 31, who went on a two-week hunger strike in the fall to protest restrictions on family visits and other conditions in prison, appeared weak in recent weeks, her family said.
Since her detention began, some of the changes that she sought have come to pass.
Women in Saudi Arabia have been allowed to drive since the kingdom lifted the ban in June 2018, one of the historic social reforms inaugurated over the past few years by Saudi Arabia’s crown prince and de facto ruler, Mohammed bin Salman.
But along with the changes came an ongoing crackdown on those who failed to fall in line with the crown prince. After capturing international attention by defying the driving ban and speaking out against other restrictions in the kingdom, alHathloul and at least 10 other activists were arrested a month before the ban was set to expire, accused of treason in the statecontrolled news media.