She begins to lose hope. ‘Two-year-old sister of women’s rights activists Saudi prison Pleads for Justice

If Saudi Arabian security forces her family to Riyadh broke into the house on May 15, 2018 Loujain pull her sister out at gunpoint, Lina al-Hathloul thousands of miles in Brussels had been removed. Two months before the security forces of the UAE Loujain was arrested in Abu Dhabi, where they lived and worked. After being expelled, Saudi authorities have arrested the country could not leave for a few days before activsit under a travel ban on the placement of the renowned women’s rights. But Lina, then 23, knew nothing about it; working on his thesis on the trade secret law in Belgium and their parents want, they do not care. “To be honest, it has nothing to me. I did not even Loujain had been kidnapped from the UAE,” says TIME from Brussels, where they still live today. “Only after she was arrested on May 15. I’ve heard the whole story.” Global public was sold a different story. Fresh charm offensive that one sit-down with Oprah included, and interviews with dozens of media, including the time he was preparing Crown Prince Mohamed is to lift Salman Saudi Arabia to lead the Kingdom ban on women. He, finally, that, on June 24, less than six weeks after the arrest of al-coordinated Hathloul and defenders of the rights of other women who had long rejected. They were taken to an unofficial prison known as “Hotel”, where human rights groups say they were tortured and sexually abused. He transferred to a prison official in Jeddah in August 2018 and then in another prison near Riyadh in December of that year was the trial is scheduled to begin in March this year Loujain. It ‘been postponed indefinitely, as the Kingdom of bringing COVID-19 pandemic. Loujain could groped quite avoided Lina says if they accepted the offer, provided by denying publicly that they were tortured. “They would rather be in prison and, according to their value and fights as released these two years do not lose anything.” In the two years since the arrest of his sister Lina it seemed swept like other changes for Saudi Arabia. The powers of the religious police, once feared were blunted; From the month of August 2019 women no longer need permission from a “guardian” male to travel or marry; and a host of international stars of the soccer star Cristiano Ronaldo singer Mariah Carey, in stadiums and arenas led open to women. But try the MBS cast himself as a reformist modernization has been undermined by its brutal repression of dissent. The most egregious incident occurred in October 2018 as a Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi-Hit Squad at the Saudi Arabian embassy in Istanbul killed before dismembering her body. Even after the CIA, the Crown Prince had ordered his killing ended, authorities continued dissidents for Norway and Canada are targeting. And in 2019, Saudi Arabia executed 184 people, according to Amnesty International, took over the organization each year. The continued detention of Loujain, along with other prisoners of conscience, MBS continues verletzen’im credibility abroad, says Irwin Cotler, former Minister of Justice of Canada. Saudi Arabia is preparing to host the G20 summit in November, MBS, “or you can check the list of the accused processes, or it may come as a person who has released political prisoners,” said Cotler, you need to Raif as an international legal consultant Badawi, another high-profile political prisoner. Worldwide has COVID-19 deals with the pandemic to the prisoner being. Ministry of Justice of Saudi Arabia did not respond to time request for an opinion on the measures taken to protect the occupants, and the kingdom does not allow independent groups to human rights to follow their prisons. But that detainees general health is at risk in a worrying signs, another prominent activist, Abdullah al-Hamid, who died on 24 April after falling in jail in a coma. For months, authorities had denied the 69-year-old life-saving heart surgery, according to the World Organization against Torture. Saudi authorities have not responded to repeated requests for comment. In an interview on the second anniversary of the detention of her sister Lina al-Hathloul discussed the lack of adequate investigation of their alleged torture and sister like Saudi Arabia she has changed under MBS. (This interview has been edited for length and clarity.) He returned to your household contacts Loujain from their process? How is she now? My parents allowed to speak once a week. Since it is moved attempt Loujain really tired. If you plan things for you and know that you will see people, it is easier psychologically. But now no one can say anything, and do not know when the next meeting. She begins to lose hope. What are the rates Loujain is facing? For the first 10 months after his arrest, there were no official charges. The only thing that we had was that the Saudis told the media: that she was a traitor or a spy or an agent for Qatar. When they get their taxes, it was all his activism at the bottom. to talk about such things about the human rights situation in Saudi Arabia for international conferences, or in contact with a E.U. Delegation in Saudi Arabia. They also say that in Saudi Arabia have been fighting for the rights of women who have already been granted by the Shari’a. One of the charges is based on the law cyber crime, but all other expenses are based on a specific law. At what point are Loujain be clear that they were tortured in prison? The first time they were allowed to visit my Loujain parents had when they designed the official prison was returned last year end of August. At first he could not even understand [my brothers and me] how they felt; They were depressed. But gradually, after several visits, they said it was not good Loujain. That she could not walk. What she could not sit. That she had marks all over his body. After all the reports came on the case Khashoggi knew my parents Loujain had been tortured. They asked her and she admitted everything. Gradually, they began more details. One day he said to my parents that Saud al-Qahtani [a former adviser to the Royal Court and close confidant of MBS] was the one who oversaw the torture. What was the one who gives the orders, and laughing, it decreases. He was threatened and told that if he wants he could rape her before killing, and that he was his body disappear into the sewers. [Deputy Attorney Saudi Arabia in the past denied accusations that all the activists were tortured.] Al Qahtani has been involved the murder of Jamal Khashoggi, but last year the Saudi Arabia acquitted him of all charges in an investigation of Nations UN special rapporteur Agnes Callemard called “travesty of justice.” you are aware of any investigation into his alleged role in Loujain of torture? Nothing. Nothing was done. one day [Saudi Arabia] Human Rights Commission visited Loujain. He told them everything that happened. But in the end, he asked, “I can assure you that you can do what protects me with everything I say?” They told her no, frankly, we can not So, they just took the paper he had written. and he held out in front of him. [Human Rights Commission of Saudi Arabia has generally react to allegations of torture not available for comment on the request d TIME He alleged or the presence of Al Qahtani.] It ‘important to remember MBS statements on this topic. In an interview in 2018 Bloomberg asked Loujain MBS and other activists for the rights of women in prison. He said their spies and tomorrow will show you videos that prove it. A year later, 60 Minutes asked him the same question of these women, their torture. MBS, said it can not participate in some cases. That is not his job. But if torture happens, you will personally ensure that you have reviewed. Since Loujain arresting dozens of sports and entertainment stars have lucrative events in Saudi Arabia carried out. Considering you have a message for celebrities who perform at events in the Kingdom? Saudi people have long thirst for concerts, and art, and it’s nice to come and run by artists. But they should realize that their presence is the only window the West in Saudi Arabia. They represent a false picture because when the people of Saudi Arabia now think these events they think, not what people happen. I’m not asking anyone to boycott in Saudi Arabia, but when they go they should at least talk to women, the fight was made for these changes. I think they make a public statement about what is happening. Otherwise, their presence is only lime. Saudi Arabia has undergone some major reforms. But what is different now under the United MBS that the majority of people living abroad to understand the struggle? What it is really different that before people knew where the red lines were. Now they do not. For example, before we have concerts and we had the religious police. Now we have the religious police and we have concerts, but there is a [new] law public decency. So women can dance at a concert arrested and imprisoned received. It is a climate of fear, because they do not really know what is allowed and what is not. What you must understand is that Saudi Arabia a police state forever. It is an authoritarian regime. In August last year, your brother Walid wrote on Twitter that Saudi officials Loujain had offered the opportunity to be released if they would indicate on the video that she had not been tortured. She refused. What does that say about them? First, it wanted a written document. Then they went back and asked for a public statement. They told my parents could not accept this. You know I can not trust them, and there is no guarantee that if it does, she will be released. Although he published his Loujain is in jail because it is for other women and all the Saudi people already in trouble. I do not think it makes no sense for them to be free, and to accept it. She would prefer to stay in prison for fighting their value and are classified as released, and this for two years nothing to lose. How do you feel now about the case now, two years? I have so many questions. How is it that people still believe Saudi Arabia answers when asked Loujain? After two years of arbitrary detention, they can not say anything more be believed. It ‘just enough time to solve them now.
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