Trial of Saudi activist Loujain Al-Hathloul to resume

The family of detained Saudi activist Loujain Al-Hathloul have announced that her trial will resume on Wednesday, almost one month after she went on hunger strike.

Al-Hathloul’s sister Lina Al-Hathloul tweeted: “We just announced that @LoujainHathloul has a trial tomorrow (Wednesday),” however, the Saudi authorities have not released any comment on the matter.

Al-Hathloul’s family announced at the end of October that their detained daughter went on hunger strike in one of the kingdom’s prisons.

The Saudi authorities have not yet issued a statement, although the kingdom usually denies any negligence of detainees’ health or treatment.

Recently, Al-Hathloul received the Normandy for Peace Freedom Prize, which was presented to her sisters, Alia and Lina, in the presence of a thousand attendees from 81 countries in early October.

READ: ‘We will be victims of an honour killing,’ say Saudi sisters at risk of deportation from Turkey 

The Saudi human rights activist was born on 31 July, 1989. She studied French literature at the University of British Columbia and was ranked by Arabian Business magazine as the third most powerful woman in the Arab World in 2015.

Al-Hathloul was detained in May 2018 amid an arrest campaign against human rights activists and advocates, including Aziza Al-Yousef and Eman Al-Nafjan, on charges of violating religious and national beliefs and communicating with suspicious foreign parties.

Pro-government media accused Al-Hathloul and other detained activists of treason, while Al-Hathloul’s family claims that she was subjected to sexual harassment and torture with electric shocks and waterboarding during her time in prison.

Saudi Arabia has faced international criticism regarding freedom of expression and human rights abuses. However, Riyadh rejected the accusations and reiterated its commitment to “enforcing the law with transparency.”