Saudi Arabia confirms a health influencer acquired an 11-year sentence over ‘terrorist offenses’

JERUSALEM (AP) — Saudi Arabia confirmed in a letter to the United Nations {that a} feminine health instruction who was fashionable on-line acquired an 11-year jail sentence however didn’t specify any of her alleged “terrorism offenses.”

Although the dominion insisted the case had nothing to do with the trainer’s on-line presence, human rights activists say the conviction levied in opposition to Manahel al-Otaibi exhibits the boundaries of expression in Saudi Arabia.

It additionally highlights one other facet of the dominion, now run day-to-day by Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, who underneath his 88-year-old father King Salman has dramatically liberalized some elements of ladies’s lives within the nation.

“Her fees associated solely to her alternative of clothes and expression of her views on-line, together with calling on social media for an finish to Saudi Arabia’s male guardianship system, publishing movies of herself carrying ‘indecent garments’ and ‘going to the outlets with out carrying an abaya,’” stated Amnesty Worldwide and ALQST, a London-based group advocating for human rights in Saudi Arabia that’s adopted al-Otaibi’s case.

The human rights group issued joint statements on Tuesday about al-Otaibi’s jail sentence, first revealed in Saudi letter dated Jan. 25 and despatched to the U.N.’s Workplace of the Excessive Commissioner for Human Rights.

In its letter, Saudi Arabia’s everlasting mission to the U.N. in Geneva didn’t define any of the proof that convicted al-Otaibi whereas saying there had been “unfounded and uncorroborated allegations and claims” made about her case.

Al-Otaibi, who posted health movies on Instagram, Twitter, and Snapchat, confronted fees of “defaming the dominion at house and overseas, calling for insurrection in opposition to public order and society’s traditions and customs, and difficult the judiciary and its justice,” in keeping with courtroom paperwork earlier seen by The Related Press.

Her posts included advocacy for liberal costume codes for ladies, LGBTQ+ rights and the abolition of Saudi Arabia male guardianship legal guidelines. She was additionally accused of showing in indecent clothes and posting Arabic hashtags that embody the phrase “overthrow the federal government.”

Al-Otaibi has been detained since November 2022. Her sister Fouz confronted related fees however fled Saudi Arabia, in keeping with ALQST.

The dominion’s letter stated the Saudi authorities “needs to underscore the truth that the train and protection of rights is just not against the law underneath Saudi legislation; nevertheless, justifying the actions of terrorists by describing them as exercising or defending rights is unacceptable and constitutes an try and legitimize terrorist crimes.”

Since 2018, women have been allowed to drive and different restrictions have been lifted within the once-ultraconservative kingdom because it tries to quickly diversify its oil-based financial system. That got here as Prince Mohammed solidified his power, partly by imprisoning members of the Saudi elite as his father retains formal management within the kingdom.

A number of activists have been arrested for denouncing Saudi guidelines, or following dissidents who accomplish that, on social media. This consists of Salma al-Shehab, a former doctoral scholar at Leeds College who is currently serving a 27-year prison sentence.