Young women in Saudi Arabia sentenced to 11 years in prison by "anti-terrorism court" after being arrested for “her choice of clothing and support for women’s rights”

tardigrada@beehaw.org to World News@beehaw.org – 173 points – Saudi Arabia activist sentenced to 11 years in prison for ‘support’ of women’s rights
theguardian.com

Saudi officials confirmed in a statement to the United Nations high commissioner for human rights that Manahel al-Otaibi was sentenced on 9 January for what the Saudi government called “terrorist offences”.

Al-Otaibi, who was sentenced in a secret hearing before the counter-terrorism court, was found guilty of charges related to a Saudi anti-terror law that criminalises the use of websites to “broadcasts or publishes news, statements, false or malicious rumors, or the like for committing a terrorist crime”.

Among other charges, Otaibi was accused by Saudi authorities of using a hashtag – translated to #societyisready – to call for an end to male guardianship rules. Her sister, Fouz al-Otaibi was also accused of not wearing decent clothing but was able to flee Saudi Arabia before her arrest.

Another sister, Maryam, is a known women’s rights advocate who was detained, held, and eventually released in 2017 for protesting guardianship rules.

Rights groups say al-Otaibi has been subjected to severe abuse, beginning with her forcible disappearance for five months from November 2023 to April 2024. Once she was back in contact with her family, she said she was held in solitary confinement and had broken a leg after being subjected to physical abuse. Saudi officials denied the claims.

Her case follows a slew of similar cases in which Saudi women, in particular, have been subjected to draconian sentences for using social media accounts to express themselves. They include women such as Salma al-Shehab, sentenced to 27 years, Fatima al-Shawarbi, sentenced to 30 years, Sukaynah al-Aithan, sentenced to 40 years, and Nourah al-Qahtani, sentenced to 45 years.

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Its a Saudi Man right now in the UN Comission for Womens rights.

WTF??

Yeah, his name is Abdulaziz Alwasil.

Human Rights Watch says about women's rights in Saudi Arabia:

The Personal Status Law [in Saudi Arabia] requires women to obtain a male guardian’s permission to marry, codifying the country’s longstanding practice. Married women are required to obey their husbands in a “reasonable manner.” The law further states that neither spouse may abstain from sexual relations or cohabitation without the other spouse’s consent, implying a marital right to intercourse.

While a husband can unilaterally divorce his wife, a woman can only petition a court to dissolve their marriage contract on limited grounds and must “establish [the] harm” that makes the continuation of marriage “impossible” within those grounds. The law does not specify what constitutes “harm” or what evidence can be submitted to support a case, leaving judges wide discretion in the law’s interpretation and enforcement to maintain the status quo.

Fathers remain the default guardians of their children, limiting a mother’s ability to participate fully in decisions related to her child’s social and financial well-being. A mother may not act as her child’s guardian unless a court appoints her, and she will otherwise have limited authority to make decisions for her child’s well-being, even in cases where the parents do not live together and judicial authorities decide that the child should live with the mother.

There are so many problems with Saudi Arabia, but because they have money and oil, nobody dares do anything. If we could decouple ourselves from their damn oil, maybe we could have more influence on them.

If you want equal rights for women in Saudi Arabia, try your best to stop depending on their major export: oil.

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And then they're spending billions to try sportwashing their bloody image. Isn't much cheaper to just be decent in human rights? Then people would like you even without your billions

Let's see: a bunch of people who get multi-million "stipends" a year whose goal in life is either to live the big life, plus 2/3rds of the citizens getting hired by the government onto "management" positions with an average workweek of (ONE) 1 hour... and you want them to do, what? stop acting like uber-spoiled brats?

Change would require like, actual work, or something. They're easily two generations into being spoiled, the reality check will be so hard it's hard to imagine.

The West has such great allies in the Middle East. /s

Yeah, but it's not only the west. It seems there is no such thing as politics if and when enough money is involved.

Yeah, but unless you're from a specific subculture very prominent on Lemmy, you'd expect better from us. In Africa, we support countries that make moves towards democracy and human rights. In the Middle East, that seems to go out the window instantly.

China barely tries to hide that they always do what's good for Han Chinese, and don't really give a shit about anyone else, so that's not surprising.

Money changing hands is politics. Just not the kind where you or I get to have a say in it.

On the bright side, Saudi Arabia's finances are not as fine as they'd want everyone else to believe (see what's happening to their "Line" city project), so the day to stop humoring all their whims might be coming.

But they're our ally, so nothing bad happened. Please remove this from your memory for the sake of a peaceful Middle East. Thanks! -USA