Trial information

Alleged crimes: Unknown

Victim's charges: Communicating with foreign entities hostile to Saudi Arabia; recruiting government employees to gather confidential information; providing financial support to entities abroad hostile to Saudi Arabia

Court: Criminal Court

Verdict: Unknown

Date of verdict: Unknown

Updates on trial: On 30 January 2020, Loujain appeared before the Criminal Court in Riyadh (along with Mayaa al-Zahrani). The public prosecutor read the charges against her and she responded to all the charges. In Loujain’s next trial session on 12 February, the public prosecutor responded to her defence, repeating previous charges. The judge asked her to respond to the prosecutor in the next trial, scheduled for 11 March 2020 which was later postponed until 18 March 2020.

Previous arrests: Loujain was first arrested in December 2014 when she attempted to defy the driving ban on women by driving her car into Saudi Arabia across the Saudi-UAE border; she was released by royal pardon after 73 days. She was again detained in June 2017. In March 2018 she was transferred from Abu Dhabi to Saudi Arabia against her will after attending a session of the UN Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) in Geneva; she was released after three days but placed under a travel ban and barred from using social media

Human Rights Violations

Violations: Arbitrary arrest/ detention , Enforced disappearance , Denied contact with family , Denied access to a lawyer , Torture and ill-treatment , Observers denied access to court hearings, Sexual violence, placed in solitary confinement

Violation details: Physically tortured (beaten, electrocuted, waterboarded and force-fed); sexually molested; threatened with rape and murder; placed in solitary confinement on and off for nearly a year and denied visits and contact with her family for the first month of her arrest In August 2019, the Saudi authorities offered Loujan a release on the condition of making a video of herself denying that she was tortured and sexually molested in August 2020, Loujain went on hunger strike for 6 days from 17 August until 23 August to protest against being denied visits and phone calls for nearly 3 months. The prison authorities responded to Loujain's demand and she was allowed family visits again on 31 of August.

References

Reference 1: None

Reference 2: https://www.frontlinedefenders.org/en/case/crackdown-whrds-saudi-arabia

Reference 3: https://alqst.org/prisonersofconscience/loujain-al-hathloul

Reference 4: https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/Saudi-activist-Loujain-Hathloul-hunger-strike#:~:text=Saudi%20activist%20Loujain%20al%2DHathloul's%20health%20'deteriorating'%20amid%20hunger%20strike,-Following%20their%20first&text=She%20was%20on%20a%20hunger,hunger%20strike%2C%22%20she%20said.