Rights group: Riyadh repressing women despite official claims of ‘reforms’

A human rights group says Saudi Arabia has intensified its crackdown on women in recent years, despite promises of improving their social standing, stressing that female activists in the kingdom are paying an “exorbitant” price for forcing the regime to make a set of reforms in favor of women’s most basic rights.

The European Saudi Organization for Human Rights (ESOHR) published a report on March 8, marking the International Women’s Day.

According to Press TV, it explained that the Saudi regime has in the recent years expanded the repression of women and treated them boldly “in horrible ways” in a campaign that has seen the use of brutal torture, widespread arrests, intimidating investigations, and pledges that instill fear and limit their activities.

The rights group criticized the ongoing intimidation of female human rights defenders, saying such a treatment belies the regime’s official propaganda about “reforms” in the area of women’s rights.

According to statistics gathered by ESOHR with great difficulty, at least 47 women, including human rights defenders, are still in prison for political reasons.

“Likewise, other women are still under trial, and restrictions are still imposed on those who were released. Women who are accustomed to raising human rights demands on social networks are today more anxious and filled with dread that they will be exposed to repression,” the organization said.

It added that the relentless and influential struggle of women's rights defenders has forced the Saudi government to change its attitude towards women’s rights as it has issued a number of decisions and promises.

The ESOHR cited the lifting of the driving ban on Saudi women, the only ban of its type in the world, in June 2018 as the most notable example of change, which came after successive campaigns launched by female activists.

ME