Women in Saudi Arabia have been allowed to drive since the kingdom lifted the ban in June 2018, one of the historic social reforms inaugurated over the last few years by Saudi Arabia’s crown prince and de facto ruler, Mohammed bin Salman. Under the crown prince, the kingdom has encouraged women to work and loosened the guardianship system that gave women’s fathers, husbands or brothers the final say over their travel, employment and marriage plans.
But along with the changes came an ongoing crackdown on those who failed to fall in line with the crown prince, including members of the royal family, businessmen and clerics, as well as activists including Ms. al-Hathloul. After capturing international attention by defying the driving ban and speaking out against other restrictions in the kingdom, Ms. al-Hathloul and at least 10 other activists were arrested a month before the ban was set to expire, accused of treason in the state-controlled news media.
“My sister is not a terrorist, she is an activist,” her sister, Lina al-Hathloul, said in a statement on Monday.
“To be sentenced for her activism for the very reforms that MBS and the Saudi kingdom so proudly tout is the ultimate hypocrisy,” she added, referring to the crown prince by his initials.
Analysts said the timing of Loujain al-Hathloul’s arrest suggested that the government wanted to make clear that change flowed down from the Saudi government, not up from the people.
Saudi officials have dismissed any connection between the charges against Ms. al-Hathloul and her activism, instead saying that she was arrested because she was working with foreign entities hostile to Saudi Arabia. The counts against her have included demanding women’s rights and pushing for the abolition of the guardianship system, trying to apply for a job at the United Nations, and speaking to foreign journalists, diplomats and human rights organizations, according to her family.
“There are accusations of dealing with states unfriendly to the kingdom and with providing classified information and other issues like that,” the Saudi foreign minister, Prince Faisal bin Farhan, told Agence France-Presse during a visit to Bahrain this month.
