Family of jailed Saudi activist to appeal sentencing

The family of prominent human rights activist Loujain al-Hathloul will appeal her prison sentence but expressed little hope in the Saudi judicial system, calling the trial a “sham” and “politically motivated”.

On Monday, a Saudi court sentenced al-Hathloul to five years and eight months in prison on terrorism-related charges and banned her from leaving the country for five years, sparking a torrent of international criticism.

Al-Hathloul, 31, was arrested in May 2018 with about a dozen other women’s rights activists just weeks before the historic lifting of a decades-long ban on female drivers, a reform they had long campaigned for.

“The moment [al-Hathloul] saw the verdict, she started crying because… she had been labelled as a terrorist,” her brother Walid al-Hathloul told AFP news agency.

“We are going to be appealing the verdict even though [we] don’t have any hope from the Saudi judicial system.”

The Geneva-based UN Human Rights office described al-Hathloul’s conviction and sentence as “deeply troubling” after she was “arbitrarily” detained.

“We understand early release is possible, and strongly encourage it as matter of urgency,” the organisation said on Twitter.

France’s foreign ministry said it reiterated its call for her “quick release”, a view echoed by Germany’s human rights commissioner Barbel Kofler.

“Saudi Arabia’s sentencing of Loujain al-Hathloul for simply exercising her universal rights is unjust and troubling,” tweeted Jake Sullivan, the national security adviser in the incoming administration of US President-elect Joe Biden.

The current US administration of Donald Trump was more subdued, with deputy Department of State spokesman, Cale Brown, tweeting that the US was “concerned”, adding that “we look forward to her anticipated early release in 2021”.

Source: Al Jazeera