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Saudi court adjourns hearing in trial of women activists
RIYADH, April 17, 2019 (BSS/AFP) – A Saudi court on Wednesday adjourned a
hearing in the trial of 11 women activists which has drawn international
censure, officials said, just days after campaigners reported a new crackdown
on their supporters.
The activists, among them Loujain al-Hathloul who has accused her
interrogators of sexual abuse and torture during nearly a year in custody,
face charges that include contact with foreign media, diplomats and human
rights groups.
A panel of three judges at the Riyadh criminal court had been expected to
examine their response to the charges, filed earlier this month, and possibly
announce sentences for some women.
But policemen at the courthouse turned away Western media and diplomats —
already barred from attending previous sessions of the high-profile trial —
saying the hearing had been adjourned.
No explanation was given and it remains unclear when the trial will resume.
“We learn that the #WomensRightsDefenders trial did not take place today,
for reasons that are not known,” ALQST, a London-based human rights group
focused on Saudi Arabia, said on Twitter.
The families of most of the 11 activists were unaware of the development,
sources following the trial said. They had been planning to show up in court
for the hearings, which were earlier scheduled separatedly for each woman.
Riyadh has faced pressure from Western governments to release the women,
most of whom were detained last summer in a wide-ranging crackdown against
activists just before the historic lifting of a decades-long ban on female
motorists.
Three of them — activist Aziza al-Yousef, blogger Eman al-Nafjan and
preacher Rokaya al-Mohareb — have been granted temporary release.
In an apparent crackdown on the women’s supporters earlier this month,
Saudi authorities arrested at least nine writers and academics, including two
US-Saudi dual nationals.
Aziza’s son, Salah al-Haidar, is among the two Americans detained.
– ‘End this misery’ –
The families of those newly arrested are “very worried” as they have so
far not received any information about their whereabouts or conditions, a
legal source told AFP.
Last Wednesday, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said he had pressed Saudi
Arabia — a close ally of President Donald Trump’s administration — to
release the US citizens.
The Saudi government has so far not publicly commented on the latest
crackdown, the first since journalist Jamal Khashoggi’s murder inside the
Saudi consulate in Istanbul in October, which sparked unprecedented global
scrutiny of the kingdom’s human rights record.
“The Saudi authorities must end this misery for the women activists and
their families — they must immediately release them and drop the ridiculous
charges against them,” said Amnesty International’s Middle East campaigns
director Samah Hadid.
“The world is watching the trial and will keep up the pressure until the
women are released,” Hadid told AFP.
Several of the defendants are considering asking the judges to call the
foreign contacts named in their chargesheets — including journalists and
diplomats — to testify in the trial, a source privy to information about the
hearings told AFP.
Loujain’s siblings, based overseas, have said they are being pressured by
people close to the Saudi state to stay silent over her treatment in
detention.
People close to the Saudi establishment have warned that public criticism
by family members could prolong their detention.
At one emotionally charged court hearing, some women broke down as they
accused interrogators of subjecting them to electric shocks, flogging and
groping in detention, two people with access to the trial told AFP.
A Saudi prosecutor roundly rejected the accusation, witnesses said,
reiterating the government’s stance.
BSS/AFP/RY/1708 hrs