WUNRN
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/12/25/saudi-women-drivers_n_6380624.html?utm_hp_ref=tw
SAUDI ARABIA – CASE OF 2 SAUDI WOMEN DRIVERS REFERRED TO TERRORISM COURT
This Nov. 30, 2014 image made from video
released by Loujain al-Hathloul, shows her driving towards the United Arab
Emirates - Saudi Arabia border before her arrest on Dec. 1, 2014, in Saudi
Arabia. Two Saudi women, including al-Hathloul, detained for nearly a month
after violating the kingdom's female driving ban have been referred Thuesday,
Dec. 25, 2014 to a court established to try terrorism cases on charges related
to comments they made on social media. (AP Photo/Loujain al-Hathloul, File) |
AP Photo/Loujain al-Hathloul
By AYA BATRAWY, Associated Press – December
25, 2014
DUBAI, United
Arab Emirates (AP) — Two Saudi women detained for nearly a month in defiance of
a ban on females driving were referred on Thursday to a court established to
try terrorism cases, several people close to the defendants said.
The cases of the
two, Loujain al-Hathloul and Maysa al-Amoudi, were sent to the anti-terrorism
court in connection to opinions they expressed in tweets and in social media,
four people close to the two women told The Associated Press.
They did not
elaborate on the specific charges or what the opinions were. Both women have
spoken out online against the female driving ban. Activists say they fear the
case is intended to send a warning to others pushing for greater rights. The
four people spoke on condition of anonymity because of fear of government
reprisals.
The Specialized
Criminal Court, to which their cases were referred, was established in the
capital Riyadh to try terrorism cases but has also tried and handed long prison
sentences to a number of human rights workers, peaceful dissidents, activists
and critics of the government. For example, this year it sentenced a revered
Shiite cleric Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr, a vocal critic of the government, to death
for sedition and sentenced a prominent human rights lawyer, Waleed Abul-Khair,
to 15 years in prison on charges of inciting public opinion.
Human Rights
Watch recently warned that "Saudi authorities are ramping up their
crackdown on people who peacefully criticize the government on the
Internet." It said that judges and prosecutors are using "vague
provisions of a 2007 anti-cybercrime law to charge and try Saudi citizens for
peaceful tweets and social media comments."
This was the
first time women drivers have been referred to the court, activists said.
The detention of
al-Hathloul, 25, and Maysa al-Amoudi, 33 — both arrested on Dec. 1 — has been
the longest yet for any women who defied the driving ban. They were vocal
supporters of a grassroots campaign launched last year to oppose the ban, and
have a significant online following with a total 355,000 followers on Twitter
for the two of them at the time of their arrest.
Though no formal law bans women from driving in Saudi Arabia,
ultraconservative Saudi clerics have issued religious edicts forbidding women
from taking the wheel, and authorities do not issue them driver's licenses. No
such ban exists anywhere else in the world, even in other conservative Gulf countries.
The four people
close to the women said their lawyers appealed the judge's decision to transfer
their cases. An appeals court in Dammam, the capital of Eastern Province, is
expected to decide on the referral in the coming days, they said.
Authorities have
a history of clamping down on Saudi women who attempt to drive. In 1990, 50
women were arrested for driving. They had their passports confiscated and lost
their jobs. More than 20 years later, a woman was sentenced in 2011 to 10
lashes for driving, though the king overturned the sentence.
Supporters of
the current driving campaign delivered a petition to the royal court this month
asking King Abdullah to pardon the two women.
Organizers
behind the campaign, which began Oct. 26, 2013, say the ban on women driving
underpins wider issues related to guardianship laws in Saudi Arabia that give
men powerful sway over women's lives. One activist said the driving ban is also
part of "a wider effort to quash any chances of raising the ceiling on
civil liberties" in Saudi Arabia.
The two women
appeared in court on Thursday for the second time in the eastern al-Ahsa
region, where they were detained after driving to Saudi Arabia from the United
Arab Emirates.
Al-Hathloul was
stopped by border guards and her passport was confiscated for more than 24
hours when she attempted to cross the border Nov. 30 with a UAE driver's
license in an act of defiance.
Al-Amoudi, a
UAE-based Saudi journalist, was stopped when she went to deliver food and a
blanket to al-Hathloul at the border, activists and relatives said. The women
were formally arrested on Dec. 1.
There has been
no official Saudi comment on the arrests.
Al-Hathloul is
in a correctional facility for juveniles and al-Amoudi is in a prison.
Relatives say they have been allowed to see them for short supervised visits.