Until recently, despite being abused, harassed and at times jailed, most Saudi women’s rights activists were managing to avoid the full force of the regime’s violence due to their high socioeconomic status. Their skin colour and religious and tribal identity were also playing a role in determining the level of abuse and harassment they were subjected once they were arrested. While undocumented female migrants and poor, underprivileged Saudi citizens were treated abominably in the kingdom’s prisons, Saudi activists from privileged backgrounds were being dealt with relative restraint.
Amnesty International’s latest report, however, reveals that even a privileged background can no longer protect women’s rights activists from the brutality of the country’s current leadership.
This move towards indiscriminate oppression is a natural expansion of the kingdom’s de facto ruler Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s (MBS) one-dimensional approach to all forms of dissent and opposition.
Read full report: aljazeera.com/indepth/opinion/torture-reform-women-rights-saudi-arabia-181129172925565.html