RIYADH, May 3 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Saudi Arabia on Thursday released at least four more detained women activists pending trial, campaigners said, bringing the total number of women provisionally freed to seven.
They are among 11 activists, some of whom have accused interrogators of sexual abuse and torture during nearly a year in custody, who are standing trial over charges that include contact with foreign media, diplomats and human rights groups.
“Hatoon al-Fassi, Amal al-Harbi, Maysaa al-Manea, and Abeer Namankani were temporarily released,” London-based rights group ALQST said on Twitter.
A Saudi lawyer with access to the trial in Riyadh’s criminal court separately confirmed the release of the four women.
ALQST added there were unconfirmed reports about the release of a fifth woman, university student Shadan al-Anezi.
There was no immediate comment from Saudi authorities.
Three other women on trial – activist Aziza al-Yousef, blogger Eman al-Nafjan and preacher Rokaya al-Mohareb – were granted temporary release in late March.
Riyadh has faced pressure from Western governments to release the women, most of whom were detained last summer in a wide-ranging crackdown against activists just before the historic lifting of a decades-long ban on female motorists.
But last month, Saudi Arabia mounted a fresh crackdown that sent shock waves through the kingdom.
Authorities arrested at least nine writers and academics, including two US citizens, in what appeared to be a targeted crackdown on supporters of the women activists on trial, campaigners said.
It marked the first major crackdown since the brutal murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi inside the Saudi consulate in Istanbul last October, which sparked unprecedented international scrutiny of the kingdom’s human rights record.
It was unclear when the next hearing in the high-profile trial, which Western diplomats and journalists are barred from attending, will be held. — NNN-AGENCIES