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Published image, Image copyright Lina Alhathloul
Loujain Al-Hathloul banned from traveling outside Saudi Arabia for five years
Saudi authorities on Wednesday released prominent women’s rights activist Loujain Al-Hathloul after being held for almost three years. According to sources from his family.
The sister of the Saudi activist, Lina Al-Hathloul, announced on her Twitter account the release of Loujain, who had been arrested in May 2018 on grounds related to national security, according to the Saudi authorities.
Lina posted on Twitter a photo taken during a video call between the two sisters, commenting: “Jane is at home … she has been released.”
Saudi authorities arrested Loujain and other activists in May 2018, after the decision to allow women to drive cars in the conservative Arab country.
Al-Hathloul’s arrest came as a surprise after the authorities’ decision to allow women to drive cars, as she was one of the most prominent feminist voices calling for it.
And last December, a court in the Saudi capital, Riyadh, sentenced the prominent Saudi activist to five years and eight months in prison.
The specialized criminal court, which rules on terrorism cases, indicted Jane for attempting to harm national security and seeking to serve a foreign program inside the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
This decision ended a long period that the Saudi activist spent in prison without a court ruling. The court suspended the sentence for two years and ten months because Al-Hathloul spent two years and seven months in prison.
After the court’s decision to suspend part of the sentence, Al-Hathloul was entitled to be released in February.
Loujain participated with the second generation of activists calling for the lifting of the ban on driving women, such as: Manal Al-Sharif and Wajeha Al-Huwaider, and she posted a video clip on Twitter to this effect, which has been seen by over 30 million people, she said.
Loujain’s sister Alia Al-Hathloul, who lives in Belgium, said in an article she wrote on the New York Times opinion page on January 13, 2019, that Loujain had been subjected to various forms of torture. and abuse. And that Saud Al-Qahtani, former court adviser to the Saudi Crown Prince, oversaw some torture sessions and threatened them with rape during the run-up to his dismissal, due to the murder of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi.
Brother of Saudi activist Loujain Al-Hathloul: The torture they practiced was only for torture
Loujain went on a hunger strike at the end of last year to protest his family’s refusal to visit him in prison.
She has also been held in solitary confinement for several months since entering the prison in May 2018.
Loujain’s family have received a warning from Saudi authorities saying their daughter will be subject to strict restrictions even after her release, including the situation under surveillance and a ban on travel outside the country for a period of five years.
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