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Source: https://english.alaraby.co.uk/news/saudi-rights-activist-sentenced-34-year-imprisonment
Saudi academic sentenced to 34 years in prison after expressing support for women's rights
MENA
3 min read
The New Arab Staff
15 August, 2022
Salma al-Shehab, a mother of two and a PhD candidate at the University of Leeds, was detained by Saudi authorities when visiting the kingdom for a holiday in early 2021.
A Saudi academic and women’s rights activist was sentenced to 34 years in prison in what observers say is the longest such sentence given to a women’s rights defender in the kingdom.
Salma al-Shehab is a mother of two boys and a PhD candidate at the University of Leeds. She was detained in Saudi Arabia in January 2021 days before she was meant to return to the United Kingdom for tweets expressing solidarity with other women’s rights activists in the country, according to a press release by the Freedom Initiative, a Washington DC-based rights group.
Al-Shehab is a Shia Muslim, a minority in Saudi Arabia who have long faced discrimination in the hardline Sunni kingdom.
Most recently, she expressed her support for fellow women’s rights activist Loujain al-Hathloul on social media, who was released from prison in February last year shortly after Al-Shehab was detained.
“Saudi Arabia has boasted to the world that they are improving women’s rights and creating legal reform, but there is no question with this abhorrent sentence that the situation is only getting worse,” said Dr Bethany Al-Haidari, the Saudi case manager at the Freedom Initiative.
“It is ironic that while Loujain’s release was celebrated, Salma remained behind bars on the ground that she called for that very release. It’s a pattern for Saudi authorities to ensure that women activists can’t celebrate or take credit for any of their hard-won victories,” she added...
Saudi academic sentenced to 34 years in prison after expressing support for women's rights
MENA
3 min read
The New Arab Staff
15 August, 2022
Salma al-Shehab, a mother of two and a PhD candidate at the University of Leeds, was detained by Saudi authorities when visiting the kingdom for a holiday in early 2021.
A Saudi academic and women’s rights activist was sentenced to 34 years in prison in what observers say is the longest such sentence given to a women’s rights defender in the kingdom.
Salma al-Shehab is a mother of two boys and a PhD candidate at the University of Leeds. She was detained in Saudi Arabia in January 2021 days before she was meant to return to the United Kingdom for tweets expressing solidarity with other women’s rights activists in the country, according to a press release by the Freedom Initiative, a Washington DC-based rights group.
Al-Shehab is a Shia Muslim, a minority in Saudi Arabia who have long faced discrimination in the hardline Sunni kingdom.
Most recently, she expressed her support for fellow women’s rights activist Loujain al-Hathloul on social media, who was released from prison in February last year shortly after Al-Shehab was detained.
“Saudi Arabia has boasted to the world that they are improving women’s rights and creating legal reform, but there is no question with this abhorrent sentence that the situation is only getting worse,” said Dr Bethany Al-Haidari, the Saudi case manager at the Freedom Initiative.
“It is ironic that while Loujain’s release was celebrated, Salma remained behind bars on the ground that she called for that very release. It’s a pattern for Saudi authorities to ensure that women activists can’t celebrate or take credit for any of their hard-won victories,” she added...