Middle East Eye :
A Saudi court on Wednesday resumed the trial of prominent women activists facing charges related to their human rights work and contacts with foreign journalists and diplomats, in a case that has sharpened international criticism of the kingdom.
The women, including rights campaigner Loujain al-Hathloul, university professor Hatoon al-Fassi and blogger Eman al-Nafjan,
were expected to respond to the charges, including some that rights groups say fall under an article of the kingdom’s cybercrime law stipulating jail sentences of up to five years.
Diplomats and media were denied entry to the hearing and escorted from the building, despite petitioning the authorities to attend amid global scrutiny of the case, the Reuters news agency reported.
Three dozen countries, including all 28 EU members, Canada and Australia, have called on Riyadh to free the activists. Nine prominent US senators wrote a public letter last week asking King Salman for the immediate and unconditional release of prisoners held on “dubious charges related to their activism,” citing many of the women currently on trial.
Earlier this month, the New York Times reported that a covert Saudi death squad that Middle East Eye exposed in October had been involved in the detention and abuse of the activists who were detained last spring and summer.
The squad is reported to have operated under the guidance and supervision of Mohammed bin Salman, the Saudi crown prince, who the CIA believes ordered the murder of the Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi last year.
Khashoggi, a columnist for the Washington Post and Middle East Eye, was killed by the unit, known as the Tiger Squad, in the kingdom’s consulate in Istanbul on 2 October.
The death of Khashoggi, a prominent critic of the Saudi government, has severely tarnished the reputation of the crown prince who Saudi officials deny ordered the murder.
‘Agents of embassies’
The activists were detained weeks before a ban on women driving cars in the conservative kingdom was lifted last June under efforts to relax social rules and boost the economy.
A Saudi court on Wednesday resumed the trial of prominent women activists facing charges related to their human rights work and contacts with foreign journalists and diplomats, in a case that has sharpened international criticism of the kingdom.
The women, including rights campaigner Loujain al-Hathloul, university professor Hatoon al-Fassi and blogger Eman al-Nafjan,
were expected to respond to the charges, including some that rights groups say fall under an article of the kingdom’s cybercrime law stipulating jail sentences of up to five years.
Diplomats and media were denied entry to the hearing and escorted from the building, despite petitioning the authorities to attend amid global scrutiny of the case, the Reuters news agency reported.
Three dozen countries, including all 28 EU members, Canada and Australia, have called on Riyadh to free the activists. Nine prominent US senators wrote a public letter last week asking King Salman for the immediate and unconditional release of prisoners held on “dubious charges related to their activism,” citing many of the women currently on trial.
Earlier this month, the New York Times reported that a covert Saudi death squad that Middle East Eye exposed in October had been involved in the detention and abuse of the activists who were detained last spring and summer.
The squad is reported to have operated under the guidance and supervision of Mohammed bin Salman, the Saudi crown prince, who the CIA believes ordered the murder of the Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi last year.
Khashoggi, a columnist for the Washington Post and Middle East Eye, was killed by the unit, known as the Tiger Squad, in the kingdom’s consulate in Istanbul on 2 October.
The death of Khashoggi, a prominent critic of the Saudi government, has severely tarnished the reputation of the crown prince who Saudi officials deny ordered the murder.
‘Agents of embassies’
The activists were detained weeks before a ban on women driving cars in the conservative kingdom was lifted last June under efforts to relax social rules and boost the economy.
