‘Saudi Crown Prince believes rights are his to give, he’ll prosecute people who demand their rights’

‘Saudi Crown Prince believes rights are his to give, he’ll prosecute people who demand their rights’

let’s H get back to our appropo future and get more about the case of manahel alaibe in Saudi Arabia sent used to 11 years in jail basically for the clo she wore and for her support of Human Rights we have bisan faki of Amnesty International who is standing by now bissan let’s try again with our interview you’re explaining the situation and and why uh this is such a difficult situation uh for obviously manahel who is in jail for something that would go would would just go unnoticed in in a democratic country but also there are many other women as well who are in similar situations give us your take on the whole situation right now thank you so much Mark and I hope you can hear me now and I just want to say thank you once again for uh covering manel’s case um you know it was a very devastating blow this week when we found out that she was sentenced to 11 years uh in in prison man has been uh detained since 16 November 2022 so she spent uh almost a year uh and half Behind Bars and now uh she was sentenced in January in a secret trial by a counterterrorism court to 11 years and we’ve only just found out this this horrific news because um the some un special repor sent sent us an official un communication to the Saudi government and and the Saudi government responded saying that uh that they had sentenced her you know two weeks ago we found out so manah had been forcing disappeared for 5 months her family didn’t know where she was we didn’t know where she was on the 14th of April she called her family and she told them that she was being held in solitary confinement that she was being beaten and that her leg was broken so we were already so distressed to hear this news and then you know a couple of uh of weeks later we find out that she’s been sentenced to 11 years in prison Amnesty International was unable to review the um the documents from uh from this tribe it’s a secret trial as I’ve said but we have reviewed court documents from previous trials and we know what her charges are it is going to the mall wearinga but also uh tweeting about women’s rights so tweeting the hashtag and male Guardianship and that’s why she’s being uh you know imprisoned for terrorist defense these are her her crimes this is absolutely absurd and now you know the only thing we can do is raise our voices from and demand that Saudi authorities uh release her we’ve covered the case in depth of Lu Jan Al haul uh who was jailed for basically campaigning for women’s rights in particular the right to drive I mean in in a normal society one one thinks this is absolutely crazy but that was the situation that women couldn’t go out and drive and as you’re saying this idea of male guardianship is something else as well the Crown Prince Muhammad bin Salman is talked about as someone who is in the process of reforming Saudi Society but clearly that isn’t going very far you know it’s so interesting that you’ve brought up Lan hul’s case because I was actually just with her her sister Lena you know one thing that that we need to note is that okay uh Crown Prince Muhammad bin Salman granted women the right to drive but he also uh is now keeping Lan under travel ban the women that campaigned for the right to drive that campaigned for their rights they were detained uh they were sexually assaulted uh and given very long sentences now we know that the public uh outcry for cases like manah helped uh for cases like Lan and the women human rights Defender helped eventually uh lead to their uh release so that’s why everyone must really engage with man’s case but really when Muhammad bin Salman when the Crown Prince uh talks about uh reforms he he you know he he basically believes like his that that his that rights are his to give you know and he will uh prosecute people who who demand their rights the specialized Criminal Court the anti-terrorism court that sentenced manahel to 11 years in prison you know it’s locked up lawyers it’s locked up activists it has sentenced to death a man named Muhammad Alami because he posted some tweets critical of um of the Saudi authorities to to Twitter accounts that have less than 10 followers so so what are these reforms that the crown Prince speaks of talking about I mean I I’ll I’ll list them just so people know at home uh or wherever they’re watching ciling the influence of the wahhabi religious establishment restricting the powers of religious police improving women’s rights well I think you’ve actually knocked that one down completely with what we’re talking about right now removal of the ban on female drivers and weakening the male guardianship system in 2019 now this is a list of things that are claimed to have been done but what is the reality that women are facing today in Saudi Arab given manel’s case clearly it is a very Bleak reality yes absolutely Saudi Arabian society has changed this is this is without a doubt but at the same time people are living in fear so s Saudi Arabia changes when Muhammad B Muhammad bin Salman decides that uh you know something gets to uh gets to be uh changed however when people actually demand their rights it’s it’s not true uh it it’s not permitted and what we’re seeing is that Saudi Arabia is spending billions of dollars to to clean up its reputation so they’re flying in athletes they’re flying in entertainers uh the world uh tennis Association the women’s tennis Association will be playing a final uh in Saudi Arabia this year but at the same time Amnesty International has documented uh the human right a deterioration in the human rights situation I think man’s case is elatic of that uh Saudi Arabia remains uh one of the the the biggest executors um in in the world so I think you know we can talk about reforms we can talk about uh the the you know but but what we really need to be cognizant of is is the reality on the ground I’ll say one last thing which is that the Crown Prince pledged a series of of legal reforms that were meant to uh improve women’s rights for example but the personal status law that was passed on um on on women’s day uh was a couple uh last year we’ve analyzed it and actually we found that it codifies discrimination against women and and really affects their rights when it comes to uh marriage and and custody and and and and divorce um and and really entrenches the male guardianship system so I would ask that people be cognizant of of what’s of what the reality is on the ground for for Saudi women yes thank you very much Ed for giving us more on the case of manahel alai we will be watching for developments and of course uh hopefully speaking to you in the future when there are positive developments on that bisan faki of amesty international thank you for joining us here for this aopo feature bisan thank you thank you thanks you all for watching to

Amnesty International is calling on Saudi Arabia to free a 29-year-old fitness instructor it says has been secretly sentenced to 11 years in prison by a counterterrorism court for “absurd crimes”: refusing to wear an abaya and hijab, and for campaigning on social media for women’s rights, calling for an end to the Saudi Kingdom’s male guardianship system. Amnesty has now learned that Manahel Al-Otaibi was sentenced in January and details of her highly secret case are only just now emerging in Saudi Arabia’s formal reply to a request by the UN Human Rights Office. She went missing for five months and was only allowed to call her family in mid April, telling them “she was being held in solitary confinement, she was being beaten and that her leg was broken.” For in-depth analysis and a deeper perspective on Saudi Arabia’s oppressive policies towards women and brutal treatment of women’s rights activists, FRANCE 24’s Mark Owen is joined by Bissan Fakih, Strategic Advisor and Senior Campaigner for Amnesty International. “Saudi Arabia is spending billions in dollars to clean up its reputation,” through sports, entertainment and tourism, explains Ms. Fakih, but all the while “Amnesty International has documented a deterioration in the human rights situation.” She highlights that “Saudi Arabia remains one of the biggest executors in the world.”
#Saudi #Women #Rights

🔔 Subscribe to France 24 now: https://f24.my/YTen
🔴 LIVE – Watch FRANCE 24 English 24/7 here: https://f24.my/YTliveEN

🌍 Read the latest International News and Top Stories: https://www.france24.com/en/

Like us on Facebook: https://f24.my/FBen
Follow us on X (Twitter): https://f24.my/Xen
Browse the news in pictures on Instagram: https://f24.my/IGen
Discover our TikTok videos: https://f24.my/TKen
Get the latest top stories on Telegram: https://f24.my/TGen