Samfundsmøte: Women's rights in Saudi Arabia – imprisoned, tortured and unheard

Women’s rights in Saudi-Arabia has led to a heated debate both within and outside the country. This is highly due to the fact that women are required to have a guardian in the form of a male family member. Women in Saudi-Arabia are required to have permission from said guardian to do things such as get a passport, travel outside Saudi-Arabia, get married and even to get released from jail.

Due to this, men effectively have all the power in the country. Till 2018 women did not have the right to drive a car, and they did not get the right to vote before 2015. Women married to men without Saudi citizenship can not transfer their citizenship to their children. In the meantime, crown prince Mohammed Bin Salman has become popular with younger Saudis due to his progressive views, but he continues to harshly punish women’s rights activists both inside and outside the country. If you fight for these views, you risk being jailed and tortured without having any rights such as a lawyer. So what is the current climate in Saudi-Arabia like? Does the future look brighter with a new crown prince? Or will the repression continue as before?

With us to discuss this we have Lina Al Hathoul, sister of Loujain Al Hathoual who is currently imprisoned in Saudi-Arabia for fighting for women’s rights. Loujain has over time fought for women’s rights to drive a car, disband the guardian system and the right to vote. She was imprisoned in 2018, and her family is now working to get her released. We also have Ina Tin from Amnesty Norway, who is their expert on the middle east and Saudi-Arabia.