RIYADH — On an otherwise unremarkable evening in May 2018, dozens of cars approached the Al-Hathloul household in Riyadh. Security officers got out the cars, broke down the door and took Loujain Al-Hathloul into custody.
Al-Hathloul, a prominent women’s rights advocate in Saudi Arabia, had led the campaign for the right for women to drive in the kingdom. When it was announced that women would be permitted to hold driving licenses in 2018, the Saudi authorities told Al-Hathloul not to comment nor push for more change, an order which she respected. In March 2018, she was kidnapped from the United Arab Emirates by the same state forces and placed under a travel ban. Then she was arrested on that May evening and, according to family members, subjected to electric shocks, whippings, and sexual harassment while imprisoned. They say that Al-Hathloul, 28 at the time, was tortured by the crown prince Mohammed bin Salman’s right-hand man Saud al-Qahtani. Neither Al-Qahtani nor the Saudi authorities have commented on these claims.
Al-Hathloul’s detainment was part of 11 women protestors being arrested on account of “coordinated activity to undermine the security, stability and social peace of the kingdom,” according to the Saudi Arabian public prosecution office.
Al-Hathloul…
