An anti-terrorism court in Saudi Arabia has secretly sentenced a pro-women’s rights female advocate for 11 years following her arrest over charges related to terrorism, The Guardian reported.
According to the report, Saudi officials confirmed in a statement to the United Nations high commissioner for human rights that Manahel al-Otaibi was sentenced on 9 January for what the Saudi government called “terrorist offences”.
Al-Otaibi, arrested in November 2022, was found guilty of charges related to a Saudi anti-terror law that criminalises the use of websites to “broadcasts or publishes news, statements, false or malicious rumors, or the like for committing a terrorist crime”.
Amnesty International and ALQST, a rights group, called on Saudi authorities to immediately and unconditionally release al-Otaibi and said her imprisonment “directly contradicts authorities’ narrative of reform and women’s empowerment”.
