Loujain al-Hathloul

Loujain al-Hathloul

Loujain al-Hathloul is a Saudi women’s rights activist and a former political prisoner. She has been arrested and released on several occasions for defying the ban on women driving in Saudi Arabia. She was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize in 2019 and 2020. She is shortlisted for the 2020 Václav Havel Human Rights Prize.

About Loujain al-Hathloul in brief

Summary Loujain al-HathloulLoujain al-Hathloul is a Saudi women’s rights activist and a former political prisoner. She has been arrested and released on several occasions for defying the ban on women driving in Saudi Arabia. She was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize in 2019 and 2020. She is shortlisted for the 2020 Václav Havel Human Rights Prize – the winner will be announced on 16 April 2021. In March 2019, PEN America announced that Nouf Abdulaziz, al-hathlou, and Eman al-Nafjan would receive the 2019 Pen AmericaBarbey Freedom to Write Award. In December 2018, she was in jail with her fellow activists at Dhahban Central Prison. On March 1, 2019, the office of Saudi Arabia’s public prosecutor announced that they had completed the preliminary investigation and would be preparing the public prosecutor to make a decision on whether or not to prosecute her. In September 2016, along with 14,000 others, she signed a petition to King Salman asking for the male guardianship system to be abolished.

She attempted to stand in Saudi local elections in December 2015, the first vote in Saudi Saudi Arabia to include women, but was barred. In June 2018, women were granted the right to drive in the kingdom, but the Saudi police still arrested her. According to ALQST and Amnesty International, Loujain and several of the other women detained for their women’s Rights activities were tortured. Torture techniques, which included being beaten on their feet, given electric shocks, and whipped, were used in a torture location called \”the hotel\” or the officer’s guesthouse. Al-HATHloul’s sister Alia, said that torture techniques used specifically against her sister included beating, electric shocks and waterboarding.