A young Saudi activist for women’s rights was detained for “her choice of clothing and support for women’s rights,” and an anti-terrorism court secretly sentenced her to 11 years in jail. In a statement to the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Saudi authorities verified that Manahel al-Otaibi was found guilty on January 9 of what the Saudi government referred to as “terrorist offenses.”
A Saudi anti-terror law that makes it illegal to use websites to “broadcast or publish news, statements, false or malicious rumors, or the like for committing a terrorist crime” resulted in Al-Otaibi’s sentencing in a covert hearing before the counterterrorism court. Al-Otaibi was detained in November 2022. She was a qualified fitness instructor and artist who regularly advocated for female empowerment on her social media posts.
Authorities in Saudi Arabia have charged Otaibi with a number of offenses, including using the hashtag society is ready to advocate for the abolition of laws governing male guardianship. Although Fouz al-Otaibi, her sister, was also charged with not dressing appropriately, she managed to escape Saudi Arabia before being taken into custody. A well-known supporter of women’s rights, Maryam, is a different sister who was arrested, incarcerated, and ultimately freed in 2017 for opposing guardianship laws.
Terrorism charges
A rights organization stated that al-Otaibi’s detention “directly contradicts authorities’ narrative of reform and women’s empowerment” and urged Saudi authorities to free her immediately and without conditions. Amnesty International’s campaigner in Saudi Arabia, Bissan Fakih, stated, “With this sentence, the Saudi authorities have demonstrated their chilling commitment to silencing peaceful dissent and exposed the hollowness of their much-touted women’s rights reforms in recent years.” Amnesty and ALQST drew attention to an irony in Al-Otaibi’s case: the activist had been a strong advocate of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman‘s “radical changes,” which included a purported easing of the dress code for women. In a 2019 interview, she claimed that the prince’s declarations had given her the freedom to voice her opinions and wear whatever she pleased. A few years later, she was arrested.
Freedom of expression under scrutiny
Otaibi promoted women’s rights and presented herself as a youthful, progressive lady who enjoys travel, yoga, art, and fitness on her social media pages on X and Snapchat. Human rights organizations claim that al-Otaibi has suffered from extreme mistreatment, starting with her five-month forced absence in November 2023 and ending in April 2024. When she was reunited with her family, she said that she had been physically abused, was being held in solitary confinement, and had fractured her leg. The assertions were refuted by Saudi officials. Her case is one of several similar ones wherein Saudi women in particular have faced harsh penalties for expressing themselves via their social media profiles. Among them are women like Nourah al-Qahtani, who was sentenced to 45 years, Sukaynah al-Aithan, who was given 40 years, Fatima al-Shawarbi, who was given 30 years, and Salma al-Shehab, who was given 27 years.
Dress code enforcement
Human rights organizations also claim that Al-Otaibi suffered severe human rights abuses, including physical assault that broke his leg, while being detained incommunicado for five months, from November 2023 to April 2024. In April 2024, the Supreme Court of Saudi Arabia (SCC) sentenced Al-Otaibi to 11 years in prison for breaking articles 43 and 44 of the country’s anti-terrorism laws. These laws forbid ‘creating, launching or using websites or programs on computers and electronic devices for the purpose of committing terrorist offenses’ as well as ‘broadcasting or publishing by any means any news, statement, false or malicious rumors, etc., intended to commit terrorist offenses.’
International response
According to Amnesty International’s Bissan Fakih, “this verdict exposes the hollowness of the women’s rights reforms touted by the Saudi authorities in recent years and demonstrates a chilling determination by the authorities to silence peaceful dissent.” “As long as it is respectable, I have the freedom to dress however I please,” Al-Otaibi said from her jail cell. Lina Al-Hathloul of ALQST continued, saying, ‘The Saudi authorities have revealed the paradoxical character of their reforms and their resolve to perpetuate their control over Saudi women by detaining her and imposing this unjust punishment on her.’
In conclusion, According to rights organization Reprieve, Saudi Arabia carried out 172 executions in 2023 in spite of repeated assurances by Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman, the de facto ruler of the country, to restrict the use of the death penalty. “The true number of executions cannot be ascertained with confidence,” there is a warning.