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Prominent Saudi women’s rights activist Loujain al-Hathloul has been released from prison after 1,001 days.
Hathloul was arrested in 2018 after openly calling for an end on the ban against female drivers in the deeply conservative Kingdom. She also spoke out against its controversial male guardianship system, which gives men considerable power over women. Hathloul was one of at least a dozen other female activists taken into custody in 2018 after Saudi media branded them as traitors.
In December 2020, she was reportedly sentenced to five years and eight months in prison, with a suspension of two years and minus time already served. She was “accused of pushing a foreign agenda and using the Internet to harm public order,” according to The Guardian.
Following a persistent push by her family, friends, and a number of prominent global rights groups, Hathloul was finally granted probation by a Riyadh judge. On Wednesday, she was was able to return home to her family. According to a statement released to ELLE.com by CODEPINK, a grassroots organization focusing on global anti-war and social justice issues, Hathloul’s release comes with conditions that include a travel ban of five years, during which she will not be able to leave Saudi Arabia. Hathloul will also, according to CODEPINK, not be allowed to engage in any kind of activism.
Saudi Arabian officials have not yet officially announced her release, but Hathloul’s family seemed to confirm the news on Wednesday in a series of social media posts. One Tweet from her sister Lina reads, “Loujain is at home!!!!!!”
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Another Tweet, also from Lina, says: “The @LoujainHathloul at home after 1001 days in prison.”
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Her other sister, Alia, said in a separate post that Hathloul is currently at their parents’ home in Saudi Arabia. Her Tweet translates to: “best day of my life.”
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Hathloul’s family told NBC News that she was sexually harassed and tortured while in detention—including being caned, electrocuted and waterboarded. Saudi Arabia has denied those allegations. Her case became a cause célèbre in the 2020 election, with Joe Biden championing her during his campaign.
Activists and politicians and journalists across the world are celebrating her release—but many caution there is still a lot of work that needs to be done.
“Loujain’s years-long imprisonment has ended, but she is not free,” said Adam Google, the deputy director for the Middle East at Human Rights Watch said in a statemetn. “Banned from travel and coerced into silence by a suspended sentence hanging over her, Loujain’s ordeal remains a flagrant miscarriage of justice.”
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