Detained Saudi Activist Loujain Al-Hathloul Goes on Hunger Strike

By Staff, Agencies

Saudi women’s rights activist Loujain al-Hathloul has embarked on a hunger strike in one of the kingdom’s prisons, according to her family.

Loujain's sister Alia said on her Twitter account that her sister has begun a hunger strike after being denied the right to contact her family.

“Today [Monday] at 7 pm Riyadh time, my sister Loujain announced a hunger strike after the administration of al-Ha'ir prison deprived her from her right to contact our family,” Alia said.

On May 15, 2018, the authorities arrested a number of female human rights activists including Loujain, Samar Badawi, Nassima al-Sadah, Nouf Abdelaziz al Jerawi, Mayaa al-Zahrani, Aziza Al-Youssef and Iman Al-Nafjan.

They have been charged of transgressing religious and national constants and communicating with suspicious foreign parties, according to the authorities' allegation.

Al-Hathloul is a Saudi women's rights activist who studied French literature at the University of British Columbia, and was ranked by Arabian Business magazine as the third most powerful woman in the Arab world for 2015.

Several international rights watchdogs have accused Saudi authorities of jailing the female activists for their activism in defending women's rights.