Saudi Arabia has sentenced women's rights activist Manahel al-Otaibi to ELEVEN years in prison for standing up against the theocratic monarchy's outrageously repressive laws controlling women.
al-Otaibi's crimes were calling to an end to the "guardianship" system — the laws which require Saudi women to have a male relative's permission for a range of critical decisions, such as working, obtaining family records, marriage, and applying for a passport — and shopping without her abaya.
Demand Saudi Arabia release Manahel al-Otaibi IMMEDIATELY!
Those "crimes" apparently constitute terrorism charges in the deeply patriarchal and religious extremist state. al-Otaibi was inspired by the performative displays of reform by Saudi Arabia's defacto leader, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, saying "based on what the crown prince has said... I have the right to choose what I want to wear, as long as it is respectable".
Turns out those words were just for show. "Instead, by arresting her and now imposing this outrageous sentence on her, the Saudi authorities have once again laid bare the arbitrary and contradictory nature of their so-called reforms, and their continuing determination to control Saudi Arabia's women," says Lina al-Hathloul, advocacy head at a London-based rights organization. It's time for Saudi Arabia to join the 21st century, stop oppressing women and release Manahel al-Otaibi ASAP!
Demand Saudi Arabia free the woman they jailed for choosing her own clothes!
