Two dual U.S.-Saudi citizens have been arrested in Saudi Arabia as part of the country’s apparent crackdown on women’s rights activists, Reuters reports.
Journalist Salah al-Haidar and author Dr. Bader al-Ibrahim were the two Americans arrested with eight other activists for publicly campaigning for women’s rights, including the right to drive a car, in Saudi Arabia. The two were detained Wednesday and Thursday, while the eight others were arrested earlier this week. They are accused of supporting eleven women activists, including Haidar’s mother, Aziza al-Yousef, currently on trial for campaigning against the country’s practice of male guardianship.
Amnesty International’s Middle East research director, Lynn Maalouf, told Reuters that Saudi authorities were “signaling to their entire people that there will be zero tolerance of any form of criticism, let alone questioning, of the state’s authoritarian practices.”
Walid al-Hathloul, a sibling of one of the women on trial, told CNN on Thursday: “We stayed silent for eight months. We thought that being silent would solve the issue. We found out at the end of the day that this made the case even worse and that’s why we’re speaking out now. At the end of the day we didn’t have any options but to speak out.”
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