US calls on Saudi Arabia to lift travel ban on women’s rights activists

The United States yesterday called on Saudi Arabia to lift a travel ban and other restrictions imposed on women’s rights activists who have been released from detention.

Michelle Taylor, the US ambassador to the United Nations Human Rights Council, called on the kingdom to resolve the cases of “prisoners of conscience” – a term often used to refer to political prisoners.

“We urge Saudi Arabia to fully resolve cases of prisoners of conscience and to lift travel bans and other restrictions on previously released women’s rights activists,” Taylor said in a forum held in the Swiss city of Geneva to mark International Women’s Day.

She did not name any political prisoners or women’s rights activists.

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