Saudi Jailings Damage Media and Women’s Rights, Activists Say

For years Nassima al-Sadah was at the forefront of the Saudi women’s rights movement, writing columns for the Juhaina news website, and co-founding the human rights organization, Al-Adala.

She filed a lawsuit demanding that women be allowed to participate in elections and campaigned for the right to drive and the end of male guardianships that put control of nearly all aspects of a woman’s life in the hands of a father, husband, or even son. But for the past two and half years, al-Sadah has been in prison in the city of Dammam. In a trial closed to international observers, the columnist was sentenced in November to nearly six years in prison under Saudi’s cybercrime law, for “communicating with foreign entities hostile to the state” through social media posts. Al-Sadah was one of several female journalists and activists detained in 2018, as Saudi authorities cracked down on a campaign to allow women to drive. The driving ban was overturned, but many of those detained for protesting it remain behind bars.