Published On May 2, 2024
Amnesty International is calling on Saudi Arabia to free a 29-year-old fitness instructor it says has been secretly sentenced to 11 years in prison by a counterterrorism court for "absurd crimes": refusing to wear an abaya and hijab, and for campaigning on social media for women's rights, calling for an end to the Saudi Kingdom's male guardianship system. Amnesty has now learned that Manahel Al-Otaibi was sentenced in January and details of her highly secret case are only just now emerging in Saudi Arabia's formal reply to a request by the UN Human Rights Office. She went missing for five months and was only allowed to call her family in mid April, telling them "she was being held in solitary confinement, she was being beaten and that her leg was broken." For in-depth analysis and a deeper perspective on Saudi Arabia's oppressive policies towards women and brutal treatment of women's rights activists, FRANCE 24's Mark Owen is joined by Bissan Fakih, Strategic Advisor and Senior Campaigner for Amnesty International. "Saudi Arabia is spending billions in dollars to clean up its reputation," through sports, entertainment and tourism, explains Ms. Fakih, but all the while "Amnesty International has documented a deterioration in the human rights situation." She highlights that "Saudi Arabia remains one of the biggest executors in the world."
#Saudi #Women #Rights
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