Saudi women’s right activist sentenced over 5-year imprisonment

A Saudi court on Monday sentenced prominent women's rights activist Loujain al-Hathloul to five years and eight months imprisonment, in a trial that has drawn international condemnation and as Riyadh faces new U.S. inspection.

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Hathloul was charged for promoting women’s rights by seeking to change the Saudi political system and harming national security, local media said. The court suspended two years and 10 months of her sentence, or time served since Hathloul was arrested on May 15, 2018.

The detentions of women activists occurred shortly before and after the kingdom lifted a ban on women driving, which many activists had long championed, as part of reforms introduced by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman that was also accompanied by a crackdown on dissent and an anti-corruption purge.

Three weeks after a Riyadh court jailed U.S.-Saudi physician Walid al-Fitaihi for six years, Hathloul's sentencing came just nearly, despite U.S. pressure to release him, in a case rights groups have called politically motivated.

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