A Saudi court sentenced prominent women’s rights activist Loujain al-Hathloul to nearly six years in prison, her family said, after her conviction in a trial that has drawn international condemnation.
The verdict and sentence pose a challenge to Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s relationship with United States President-elect Joe Biden, who has criticised Riyadh’s human rights record.
Ms Hathloul's sister said the 31-year-old, who has been held since 2018 following her arrest along with several other women’s rights activists, will appeal the sentence.
Loujain al-Hathloul drives towards the United Arab Emirates-Saudi Arabia border before her arrest. Source: Loujain al-Hathloul
She was charged with seeking to change the Saudi political system and harming national security, Saudi newspapers Sabq and Asharq Al-Awsat said, under broad counter-terrorism laws.
The court suspended two years and 10 months of her sentence of five years and eight months - most already served since her arrest on 15 May, 2018 - with a conditional release to follow, her sister Lina said.
She could therefore be released by March 2021, with a return to prison possible if she commits any crime, the newspapers said.
Ms Hathloul was also banned from travel for five years, her sister said, adding that Ms Hathloul cried when she was sentenced.
“My sister is not a terrorist, she is an activist," her sister said in a statement.
Loujain al-Hathloul and her sister, Lina, when they last met in 2017. Source: Lina Alhathloul, Twitter
"To be sentenced for her activism for the very reforms that MBS and the Saudi kingdom so proudly tout is the ultimate hypocrisy."
The US State Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Jake Sullivan, Mr Biden’s incoming national security adviser, appeared to reaffirm on Twitter that the Biden administration plans to elevate human rights issues in relations with Riyadh.
Ms Hathloul’s sentencing “for simply exercising her universal rights is unjust and troubling,” Mr Sullivan wrote in a tweet.
“As we have said, the Biden-Harris administration will stand up against human rights violations wherever they occur.”
United Nations human rights experts have called the charges “spurious".
The UN human rights office said the conviction was “deeply troubling” and called for her urgent release.
Rights groups and her family say Ms Hathloul, who campaigned for women’s right to drive and to end the kingdom’s male guardianship system, was subjected to abuse, including electric shocks, waterboarding, flogging and sexual assault.
Saudi authorities have denied the charges.
In 2019, Ms Hathloul refused to rescind her allegations of torture in exchange for early release, her family has said.
A court last week dismissed the allegations, citing a lack of evidence.
Amnesty International members protest in front of the Saudi Arabian embassy to demand the release of Loujain al-Hathloul. Source: Europa Press
Sabq and Asharq Al-Awsat reported the judge said had Ms Hathloul confessed to the crimes without coercion.
Ms Hathloul’s sentencing came nearly three weeks after a Riyadh court jailed US-Saudi physician Walid al-Fitaihi for six years, despite US pressure to release him, in a case activists have called politically motivated.
Foreign diplomats said their trials aimed to send a message at home and abroad that Saudi Arabia would not yield to pressure on human rights issues.
Riyadh could also use the sentences as leverage in future negotiations with the Biden administration, one diplomat said.
Mr Biden has said he will take a firmer line with the kingdom, an oil titan and a major buyer of American arms, than President Donald Trump, who was a strong supporter of Prince Mohammed and provided a buffer against international criticism following the murder of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi.
Charge sheet
Ms Hathloul rose to prominence in 2013 when she began publicly campaigning for women’s right to drive.
Saudi officials have said the arrests of women activists were made on suspicion of harming Saudi interests and offering support to hostile elements abroad.
London-based Saudi rights group ALQST said another activist, Mayaa al-Zahrani, was also convicted on Monday and given the same sentence as Ms Hathloul.
In addition, Nassimah al-Saadah was sentenced to five years in prison with two suspended in late November, according to Human Rights Watch.
Ms Hathloul’s family published her indictment after her case was transferred to Riyadh’s Specialised Criminal Court, originally established to try terrorism suspects but which has been used over the past decade to prosecute perceived dissidents.
The main charges against Ms Hathloul, which carried up to 20 years in prison, included seeking to change the Saudi political system, calling for an end to male guardianship, attempting to apply for a UN job, and communicating with international rights groups and Saudi activists.
Ms Hathloul was also charged with speaking to foreign diplomats and with international media about women’s rights in the kingdom, including Reuters, which declined to comment.
“The case against Loujain, based solely on her human rights activism, is a travesty of justice and reveals the depths to which they will go to root out independent voices,” Adam Coogle of Human Rights Watch said.
The Saudi government media office did not respond to a request for comment.
