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The family of Saudi activist Loujain al-Hathloul said on Thursday that US President Joe Biden’s election win helped secure her release after nearly three years’ imprisonment, but warned she was still far from free.
Hathloul, 31, was provisionally set free by Saudi authorities on Wednesday after being detained in May 2018 with about twelve other women activists, just weeks before the kingdom’s historic lifting of a decades-long ban on female drivers — a reform they had long campaigned for.
“I would say thank you Mr President that you helped my sister to be released,” Alia al-Hathloul told a virtual press conference.
“It’s a fact that Loujain was imprisoned during the previous administration, and she was released a few days after Biden’s arrival to power.
“Biden’s arrival helped and contributed a lot in my sister’s release.”
Saudi Arabia has detained hundreds of activists, clerics as well as royal family members over the past three years, and some political trials were abruptly accelerated — including that of Hathloul — after Biden’s election win late last year.
Biden, inaugurated last month, has vowed to intensify the probe of powerful Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s human rights record after the kingdom received something of a free pass under his predecessor, president Donald Trump.
On Wednesday, Biden welcomed the decision to release her, saying it was “the right thing to do”.
The US State Department said the activist should never have been jailed.
Hathloul release happened after her siblings launched an intense campaign overseas for her freedom in a major embarrassment for the kingdom, although the activist is still under probation and she is barred from leaving Saudi Arabia.
Lina said her sister would exhaust all legal options to overturn restrictions imposed on her adding that “What we want now is real justice,”
The siblings said the activist is on probation for three years and faces a five-year travel ban, prompting her not to grant media interviews and limit her presence on social media.
“Loujain is still not free,” Lina said, adding that the activist’s parents are also banned from leaving Saudi Arabia.
‘Ready to electrocute me’
The siblings posted pictures on Twitter of the smiling activist, who appeared physically weaker and had streaks of grey hair.
When asked what was the first thing her sister did upon her release, Alia said she “bought an ice-cream”, a joy denied to her in detention.
In their first post-release video call with the activist on Wednesday, her other sister Lina al-Hathloul said they could not “trust her smile”.
“We asked her ‘when you were in prison, you said you were fine,’” said Lina.
“She said ‘what did you want me to do? An electric (stun gun was) on my ear… They (prison authorities) were ready to electrocute me’.”
The activist’s family has alleged she went through torture and sexual harassment while in detention, these claims however, has been repeatedly dismissed by a Saudi court.
In late December, a court handed Hathloul a prison term of five years and eight months for terrorism-related crimes, but her family said a partially suspended sentence — and time already served — made the way for her early release.
The women’s rights activist was convicted of inciting regime change and seeking to disrupt public order, in what her family deplored as a “sham” trial.
Saudi authorities have not officially commented on her detention, trial or release.
“With Hathloul banned from travel and threatened with more prison time if she does not stay silent, her ordeal remains a flagrant miscarriage of justice,” said Adam Coogle, deputy Middle East director at Human Rights Watch.
“Saudi Arabia should quash the convictions against Hathloul that essentially deem her women’s rights activism ‘terrorism’, lift the travel ban, and end her suspended sentence.”
While some women activists detained along with Hathloul have been provisionally released, several others remain imprisoned on what campaigners describe as opaque charges.
The detentions have cast a spotlight on the human rights record of the kingdom, an absolute monarchy which has also faced vigorous criticism over the 2018 murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi in its Istanbul consulate.
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