RIYADH, March 29 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Saudi Arabia on Thursday temporarily released three out of 11 women detained last year in a sweeping crackdown on activists, state media said.
Blogger Eman al-Nafjan, retired lecturer Aziza al-Youssef and academic Rokaya al-Mohareb were freed after a second hearing on Wednesday in their high-profile trial at Riyadh’s criminal court, a member of one of their families said.
“The criminal court in Riyadh announces the provisional release of three detainees,” the official Saudi Press Agency said, without naming them.
“The court will continue to hear their cases and they will attend the trial sessions … until the issuance of the final judgement.”
Most of the women were detained last summer in a wide-ranging campaign against campaigners just before the historic lifting of a decades-long ban on female motorists.
Some of them offered their defence at an emotionally charged second hearing on Wednesday, alleging they were tortured and sexually harassed during interrogation.
The three women who were released on Thursday after nearly a year in detention will appear in court next Wednesday when the trial resumes, according to the relative of one of those released.
The government, facing sharp global criticism of its human rights record, denies the women were tortured or harassed.
Most of the women were detained last summer in a wide-ranging crackdown on campaigners just before the historic lifting of a decades-long ban on female motorists.
The women had long campaigned for the right to drive and an end to the restrictive guardianship system that gives male relatives arbitrary authority over women.
Some of the charges fell under a section of the kingdom’s sweeping cyber crime law, which carries prison sentences of up to five years. — NNN-AGENCIES
