Saudi women’s rights activist on hunger strike in prison

BEIRUT ( Reuters) – Loujain al- Hathloul, a prominent Saudi women’s rights activist held in Saudi Arabia since 2018, began a new hunger strike on Monday over the conditions of her detention, her family said.

Hathloul’s sister, Lina, told Reuters that the main demand was to be allowed regular contact with her family. In late August, Hathloul began a six- day hunger strike after authorities at Riyadh’s al- Hair prison cut off contact for over four months.

Since March, Hathloul, 31, who was arrested together with at least a dozen other women’s rights activists, had only been permitted limited contact with her family, her sister said, including a March 23 visit, a phone call on April 19 and a visit on Aug 31.

Her parents were allowed to see her on Monday.

“Yesterday, during the visit Loujain told ( our parents) she is exhausted from being mistreated and deprived from hearing her family’s voices,” Lina al- Hathloul said. “She told them she will start a hunger strike starting yesterday evening until they allow her regular calls again.”

The Saudi government’s media office did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment.

The case has drawn global criticism and has provoked anger in

European capitals and the US Congress following the 2018 murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi by Saudi agents inside the kingdom’s Istanbul consulate.

Saudi Arabia temporarily freed some of the women activists, who were rounded up as part of a broader crackdown on dissent, but others remain detained as sporadic closedcourt sessions continue.

Rights group say at least three of the women, including Hathloul, were held in solitary confinement for months and subjected to abuse including electric shocks, flogging and sexual assault.

Saudi officials have denied torture allegations and said the arrests were made on suspicion of harming Saudi interests and offering support to hostile elements abroad. Few charges have been made public.

Charges against Hathloul include communicating with 15 to 20 foreign journalists in Saudi Arabia, attempting to apply for a job at the United Nations, and attending digital privacy training, her brother has said.

Scores of other activists, intellectuals and clerics have been arrested separately in recent years in an apparent bid to stamp out possible opposition, even as de facto ruler Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman pushes reforms to open up the kingdom.