What is the fate of women's rights defenders and other activists in Saudi Arabia?

The mystery of the first trial session of a group of Saudi activists defending women's rights has been held since May.

Journalists and diplomats were prevented from attending the session.

Before the trial began, Ibrahim al-Sayari, president of the Riyadh Criminal Court, said that 10 women, including Jain al-Hathoul, Azizah al-Yousef, Iman al-Nafjan and Htoon al-Fassi, appeared in court. where they will be charged.

On the eve of the hearing, Walid al-Hathul, Jane's brother, wrote that the state security apparatus had informed the family "eight hours ago" from the beginning of the trial for "change of court from a specialized court (the terrorism court) to the criminal court".

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Change the court

The President of the European Organization of Human Rights, Ali al-Dhibisi, said that "the international pressure and the strongest statement of the French president" have clearly contributed to the transformation of the court, to Madar's sides recently at the 40th session of the United Nations Human Rights Council.

"The second factor is that" Jane's image is clear and that Saudi Arabia has not been able to distort, criminalize and call it as terrorism ", said Dabbisi at the BBC.

"I am thinking of this Belgian day," French President Emmanuel Macaron said on the occasion of International Women's Day on 8 March. "She is in prison for criticizing the regime that puts women under the tutelage of men."

Earlier this month, members of the UN Human Rights Council criticized Saudi Arabia for demanding the release of human rights activists. This is the first time that Saudi Arabia has been the target of such collective criticism since the creation of this council in 2006.

Al-Dabbisi said that Saudi Arabia, referring to a terrorism tribunal, "would eliminate the last thing that can be considered credible in the terrorism case".

The Terrorist Court was created in 2008 after a series of terrorist acts committed in the kingdom. However, since 2011, Amnesty International has documented several trials of activists, human rights defenders and peaceful protesters, according to the organization's director of research, Lynn Maalouf.

"This court is used to target independent voices in Saudi Arabia," Maalouf told the BBC.

Why Jane in particular?

Yesterday, I launched a Twitter campaign supporting Jane Hathall using Hachtagat (Maak Ya Jain) in Arabic and English, and (for Jane and her sisters).

Ali al-Dabbisi attributed Jane's weight to other activists and detainees in the role played by her sister and brothers Alia and Walid.

He said that Alia and Walid's role in Belgium and Canada (respectively) was "big and influential". He added that "some people (for the rest of the inmates) are helpless, others are afraid to speak because most of them are at home".

He explained that "the approach of the government" has always been to convince the population to remain silent "or will be the abuse and damage caused to the detainee".

Rights "violated"

Walid al-Hathloul wrote on his Twitter page that he was not allowed to hire a lawyer and that the indictment was not brought before the trial.

On March 1, the Saudi Official Press Agency (SPA) reported that "the prosecution wishes to make it clear that it has completed its investigations and the preparation of the general regulations for the prosecution of the accused. and that he is sending it back to the competent court, their rights guaranteed by the regime. "

A rights group says the list of rights that have not been disclosed to Jane as an inmate is long.

Lynn Maalouf, Amnesty International, cited media reports that Jane was tortured and sexually harassed in the first three months of her detention.

The media reported that activists, including Jain al-Hathul, were placed in solitary confinement and subjected to ill-treatment and torture, including electric shocks, skin abuse and sexual assault – false accusations by Saudi officials.

"Since her arrest, she and other people have been victims of a violation of fundamental rights to a fair trial, representation and knowledge of the charges," said Lynn Maalouf.

"The fair trial is not only about the beginning of the trial, but also about the steps that have taken place since the arrest, which must be just before the trial, otherwise the outcome of the trial will be decisive. ", he added.

Saudi official media described Jane and her colleagues as "traitors" and "embassy agents," which is also reflected in many Saudi tweets on Twitter.

Possible scenarios

Some were optimistic about a leaflet for the Hailul clan, in which she wrote that her sister had signed a request for a royal amnesty and that she saw there a possibility of release soon.

But Ali al-Dhibisi of Saudi Arabia seems less optimistic.

"The publication of such news could be a tactic of the government to absorb anger," said Dabbisi.

"Before this procedure (the change of court), the expectations were two-way: the death penalty, the official press had defended the case in May 2018 if the crimes were proven."

The second is "the prosecution of an offense against the law on terrorism that entails a prison sentence of 3 to 20 years, which has already been claimed by several activists," according to al-Dabisi.