Amnesty International demanded that Saudi Arabia release a 29-year-old fitness teacher who it claims was given an 11-year prison term due to her attire choices and posts on social media advocating for the abolition of the country’s male guardianship system.
Amnesty International, a London-based organization, said in a statement on Tuesday that Manahel Al-Otaibi was convicted in January and that information about her case surfaced in Saudi Arabia’s official response to a request from the UN human rights office.
Al-Otaibi was prosecuted for posting the social media hashtag “Abolish male guardianship” and recordings of her wearing what were considered to be “indecent clothes” and going shopping without an abaya, a long robe, according to Amnesty and the London-based Al-Qst, a Saudi organization that promotes on human rights in the country.
When Reuters questioned Saudi Arabia’s foreign media office over the details provided by Amnesty, the office did not reply.
In a formal response to the UN rights office, Saudi Arabia refuted reports that Al-Otaibi received a sentence due to his statements on social media. It stated that she had been “convicted of terrorist offences that have no bearing on her exercise of freedom of opinion and expression or her social media posts” .
No more information was provided in the Saudi response that Reuters was able to view.
The United Nations has criticized Saudi Arabia’s counterterrorism statute, which was used to condemn Al-Otaibi, for being a too broad instrument to suppress dissent.
When Reuters asked the UN human rights office to clarify the specifics of this instance or to provide comments, they did not reply soon away.
According to Amnesty, Al-Otaibi’s sister Fawzia was charged with identical offenses but left Saudi Arabia in 2022 after being called in for interrogation.
Amnesty International campaigner for Saudi Arabia, Bissan Fakih, stated in a statement that “with this sentence the Saudi authorities have exposed the hollowness of their much-touted women’s rights reforms in recent years and demonstrated their chilling commitment to silencing peaceful dissent.”
Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman, the de facto ruler of Saudi Arabia, took office in 2017 on a platform of broad social and economic changes, and he relaxed several restrictions on male guardianship rules.
Since then, Saudi women have gained the rights to record births, deaths, and divorces, as well as to drive automobiles, get passports, and travel alone. But the rules still make it harder for women than for males to get a divorce.
A 2022 personal status legislation that formalized several features of male guardianship, such as male custody over children and authorization for a woman to marry, is one of the laws that put the kingdom under continued criticism for its record on human rights. Amnesty International claims that certain measures can encourage domestic violence.
Although Saudi Arabia relaxed its clothing regulations for international women in 2019, human rights advocates claim that Saudi women are still subject to limitations.
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