UN special rapporteurs have expressed concern over the wide-ranging campaign led by Saudi Arabia against human rights defenders and social media users, targeting them through monitoring their social media accounts.
The letter sent to Saudi Arabia in March 2024, was signed by the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights defenders, the Special Rapporteur on the promotion and protection of the right to freedom of opinion and expression, and the Working Group on discrimination against women.
The experts drew the attention of the Saudi government to the information they received regarding the ongoing judicial and administrative harassment and criminalization of human rights defenders, including Loujain Al-Hathloul, who is banned from travel, and Maryam Al-Otaibi, who has been charged and convicted under the Anti-Cyber Crime Law in relation to her exercise of the right to freedom of opinion and expression.
The letter clarified that the information had been received by the rapporteurs from the source.
Loujain Al-Hathloul:
- • Loujain Al-Hathloul, 35-year-old, is a human rights defender and activist known for her support of the women's driving movement and her opposition to the male guardianship laws in Saudi Arabia. On 28 December 2020, after more than two years of pretrial detention, Al-Hathloul was sentenced to two years and ten months in prison on charges of communicating with hostile foreign entities and providing them with financial support. She was released from prison on 10 February 2021. As part of her sentence, she was also subjected to a travel ban for two years and ten months following her release. According to this ruling, the travel ban against her was supposed to end on 12 November 2023.
- • On 14 November 2023, Al-Hathloul visited the Passport Office in Riyadh to inquire about her travel status and confirm the lifting of the travel ban. The officer in charge said he did not have the required information. On 16 November 2023, Al-Hathloul attempted to cross the Saudi-Bahraini border but was stopped by Saudi border officers who informed her that she was subject to a travel ban with no expiration date. On 25 November 2023, Al-Hathloul filed a complaint about the travel ban with the Saudi Human Rights Commission.
- • On 2 December 2023, based on the recommendation of the Human Rights Commission, Al-Hathloul submitted a complaint via email to the Presidency of State Security through the Board of Grievances. She has not yet received a response. On the same day, she received a phone call from the Human Rights Commission requesting her to send details of her case, including a copy of her email to the Presidency of State Security and her case file number in the Board of Grievances. She sent the requested information but has not yet received any response.
- • On 21 February 2024, Ms. Al-Hathloul visited the Passport Office in Riyadh and was informed that there was an ongoing travel ban against her, but no additional information was provided.
Maryam Al-Otaibi
- • Al-Otaibi was active on social media campaigning against male guardianship. On 17 April 2017, she was arrested after her father filed a complaint that she had left home without permission. On 31 July 2017, Al-Otaibi was reportedly released without her father's consent.
- • Maryam renewed her passport in 2019, after the Personal Status Law was amended in Saudi Arabia in August of the same year, allowing women over the age of 21 to obtain passports and travel abroad without a guardian's approval.
- • On 11 February 2022, she posted a video on her Twitter account describing how she had bought a ticket to travel abroad and passed through check-in procedures at the airport, only to be stopped by airport staff before boarding the plane, who informed her that she was banned from traveling by orders from the Presidency of State Security.
- • Later, she posted a video stating that she had filed complaints with the Crown Prince's Office, the Ministry of Interior, the State Security Agency, and the Ministry of Justice. She received no response to these complaints.
- • On 31 May 2022, Al-Otaibi was summoned to appear before the Criminal Court in Riyadh, accompanied by her lawyer, to face charges under the Anti-Cyber Crime Law related to her social media complaints about the travel ban she claimed was issued by the state.
- • On 22 June 2022, Al-Otaibi was convicted by the Criminal Court in Riyadh on the charge of “preparing, storing, and sending materials that harm public order” under Article 6 of the Anti-Cyber Crime Law of 2007. She was sentenced to four months in prison and fined, and her mobile phone was ordered to be confiscated and her Twitter account shut down.
The special rapporteurs pointed out that women have been specifically targeted in Saudi Arabia's broad campaign against human rights defenders and social media users. They explained that this targeting has been legitimized through legislation such as the Anti-Cyber Crime Law of 2007, where Article 6 criminalizes “producing, preparing, sending, or storing materials that would harm public order, religious values, public morals, or the sanctity of private life through the information network or a computer device.” The letter noted that this imposes penalties of up to five years in prison for violations of these laws, and that this is used to suppress feminist or political dialogue online, which constitutes a direct violation of the right to freedom of expression.
The European Saudi Organization for Human Rights indicates that the treatment of female activists in Saudi Arabia reflects the true nature of the official approach to women's rights. Explaining that travel bans and prosecution for expressing opinions, along with the disregard for complaints submitted to the relevant authorities, confirm the continued repression of women. The organization emphasizes that the successive letters from special rapporteurs to the Saudi government are met with official responses that attempt to mislead the international community and promote information as part of image-washing campaigns led by the Saudi government.