Saudi Arabia sentences woman to 11 years for supporting women’s rights

Manahel al-Otaibi was sentenced to 11 years imprisonment by a secret court in Saudi Arabia for “her choice of clothing and support for women’s rights,” according to international media reports from the last week.

Saudi officials confirmed to the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights that al-Otaibi had been sentenced on January 9 for what the officials described as “terrorist offenses,” the Guardian reported.

Al-Otaibi was sentenced in a counter-terrorism court under a law that criminalizes the use of websites for “broadcasts or publishes news, statements, false or malicious rumors, or the like for committing a terrorist crime.”

The fitness influencer and artist was arrested in November 2022 after making numerous social media posts about female empowerment.

Amnesty International claimed that one of the charges related to the young woman shopping without a male guardian.

According to the Guardian, one particular hashtag used by al-Otaibi, “#societyisready,” led to further charges. The hashtag is reportedly used to protest male guardianship rules.

Maryam al-Otaibi, a sister of al-Otaibi, was released from a Saudi jail in 2017 after she was held for protesting male guardianship laws.

Al-Otaibi’s other sister, Fouz al-Otaibi, fled Saudi Arabia before arrest after she was accused of dressing immodestly.

Human Rights groups Amnesty International and ALQST have both put out statements in condemnation of al-Otaibi’s imprisonment.

“Manahel’s conviction and 11-year sentence is an appalling and cruel injustice," said Bissan Fakih, Amnesty International’s Campaigner on Saudi Arabia. "Since the moment she was arrested, Saudi Arabia’s authorities have subjected her to a relentless catalog of abuses, from unlawful detention for supporting women’s rights to enforced disappearance for over five months while she was being secretly interrogated, tried, and sentenced and subjected to repeated beatings by others in prison. With this sentence, the Saudi authorities have exposed the hollowness of their much-touted women’s rights reforms in recent years and demonstrated their chilling commitment to silencing peaceful dissent.”

“Manahel’s confidence that she could act with freedom could have been a positive advertisement for Mohammed bin Salman’s much-touted narrative of leading women’s rights reforms in the country. Instead, by arresting her and now imposing this outrageous sentence on her, the Saudi authorities have once again laid bare the arbitrary and contradictory nature of their so-called reforms, and their continuing determination to control Saudi Arabia’s women,” said Lina Alhathloul, ALQST’s Head of Monitoring and Advocacy.

What is the Personal Status Law that allows for male guardianship?

“The Personal Status Law requires women to obtain a male guardian’s permission to marry, codifying the country’s longstanding practice,” According to the NGO Human Rights Watch. “Married women are required to obey their husbands in a ‘reasonable manner.’ A husband’s financial support is specifically contingent on a wife’s ‘obedience,’ and she can lose her right to such support if she refuses without a ‘legitimate excuse’ to have sex with him, move to or live in the marital home, or travel with him. 

“The law further states that neither spouse may abstain from sexual relations or cohabitation without the other spouse’s consent, implying a marital right to intercourse.”

While Saudi  Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman has reformed the law, discriminatory laws still target women, according to HRW. Female prisoners require their husband's or male guardians’ permission to leave prison upon the completion of their sentencing, and male guardians must give their consent for women to access many forms of sexual and reproductive healthcare. Women also require a guardian’s consent to seek higher education abroad.

The law can also prevent a woman from entering into a marriage to which she and her would-be husband consent if a male member of her family disagrees with the union.