Saudi court hands prison sentence to activist Loujain al-Hathloul

DUBAI: A Saudi court on Monday sentenced “women’s rights activist” Loujain al-Hathloul to five years and eight months in prison, local media reported.

Hathloul, 31, has been held since 2018 following her arrest along with at least a dozen other activists.

Hathloul was charged with seeking to change the Saudi political system and harming national security, local media said. The court suspended two years and 10 months of her sentence, or time served since Hathloul was arrested on May 15, 2018, the newspapers said.

Hathloul was arrested in March 2018 and was held under house arrest before being moved to prison in May, rights groups say. She was among at least a dozen other “women’s rights activists” arrested, and Saudi media termed them traitors.

Her trial began in March 2019 in Riyadh’s criminal court after ten months in detention. In November 2020, her case was transferred from regular criminal court to a special terrorism court.

In December 2020, the Saudi public prosecutor was cleared of allegations of abuse against Hathloul by the criminal court.

Today, she has been sentenced to five years and eight months in prison, with two years and 10 months suspended. Charges against her include seeking to change the Saudi political system and harming national security.