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Loujain Al-Hathloul is a women's rights campaigner from Saudi Arabia. Her campaigning work for women’s civil rights include advocating for an end to the male guardianship system, for women’s right to drive, for women’s right to political representation and participation, and for the creation of a women’s shelter for victims of domestic violence.

Loujain actively participated in the Saudi Women Driving Campaign and she posted videos of herself encouraging women to drive their cars within the context of this campaign in 2013. In December 2014, she was arrested for 73 days on charges related to her attempt to drive from the United Arab Emirates (where she has a driving licence) into Saudi Arabia. She stood as a political candidate in the local elections in December 2015, the first time that women in Saudi Arabia were allowed the right to vote. However, due to unclear circumstances, her name was never included in the ballot.

Loujain was kidnapped in March 2018, brought back to Saudi Arabia and released a couple of days later, after being given a number of restrictions, which included a travel ban. On the afternoon of the 15th May 2018, she was arrested in her home under the charge of “attempting to destabilise the kingdom”, along with several prominent women’s rights campaigners. 

The following month, June 2018, women in Saudi Arabia were granted the right to drive, but Loujain al-Hathloul and several other women’s rights campaigners remained behind bars. Her family state that Loujain has been tortured repeatedly, including beatings, waterboarding, sexual harassment, and threats of rape and murder. She has to resort to hunger strikes in order to pressure the prison to allow her to have phone calls and visits with her family. 

Due to conditions imposed by the Saudi government, Loujain has no legal representation and has to rely on her parents to advocate for her behalf in court. 

On 26 October 2020, FiLiA Spokeswoman Raquel Rosario Sánchez spoke with Lina Al-Hathloul, who is Loujain’s youngest sister.

Lina has become one of the few family members able and willing to speak out on behalf of an incarcerated relative. A lawyer by training, Lina is based in Brussels and therefore is more able to speak and travel freely--many relatives of Saudi political prisoners are subject to travel bans themselves and/or are cowed by fear of retaliation by the present Saudi government. 

She has become a tireless advocate for her sister Loujain and has spoken to numerous media outlets, at international events and gatherings, and to representatives of the U.S. government and the United Nations. Lina continues to bring to light the widespread mistreatment and torture of prisoners such as her sister at the hands of the Saudi government.

HOW TO HELP

• SIGN AND SHARE the Change.org petition calling on the Saudi government to immediately and unconditionally release Loujain Al-Hathloul.

• CONTACT YOUR MP using the email template created by her family to contact your MP or Representative, and ask them to free Loujain Al-Hathloul.

• MAKE LOUJAIN UNFORGOTTEN by tweeting #FreeLoujain every time you see Saudi Arabia mentioned on your social media timeline. You can also share some template social media messages drafted by her family.

• STAY UPDATED on Loujain and her family’s battle for freedom by visiting their website, and by following her siblings Lina, Walid and Alia on social media. 

This episode was edited by the wonderful FiLiA volunteer Suzi Sevgi.