NASSIMA AL-SADAH
Nassima al-Sadah was born 13 August 1974.
Nassima Al Sadah is a journalist and human
rights activist who has dedicated her life to the defence of civil and
political rights in Saudi Arabia, in particular the rights of women and the
Shi’a Muslim minority in the kingdom. She had, inter alia, been campaigning for
an end to the male guardianship system and the driving ban on women. She had
also been publishing her opinions on various websites and on social media networks.
In 2011 she was among the first to bring a
lawsuit demanding that women be allowed to vote and stand as candidates in
municipal elections taking place later that year. She is a co-founding member
of human rights organisation Al-Adalah Center for Human Rights, which like the
Monitor was denied a permit to work. She was also involved in campaigns to end
the ban on women driving, attended court sessions on behalf of countless
victims, and has provided legal training in various aspects of human rights,
including on the rights of the Shi’a population.
On July 30, 2018, a month after the driving ban
on women was lifted, Al Sadah was arrested as part of Saudi Arabia’s crackdown
on activists who had campaigned against the ban. While in early 2021, Loujain
Al Hathloul and Nouf Abdelaziz were conditionally released, fellow women’s
rights defenders Al Sadah and Samar Badawi remain in detention.
In the first four months following her arrest,
Al Sadah was placed in solitary confinement. On February 20, 2019, Al Sadah was
once again placed in isolation – for an entire year. During this period, she
was denied the right to see her family and her lawyer for months at a time.
On November 25, 2020, in a trial closed to
international observers, the Criminal Court sentenced Al Sadah to five years in
prison, half of it suspended, followed by a five-year travel ban. She was
charged under article 6 of the Saudi Anti-Cybercrime Law, including for
“undermining public order, religious values, public morals and private life by
communicating with foreign journalists and organisations”. During her detention
and investigation, she was not allowed to have a lawyer. Her trial lacked
minimum international standards for fair trial and due process. On 02 June
2020, seven United Nations experts wrote to Saudi Arabia expressing concern for
Al-Sadah, among other women human rights defenders detained for their human
rights activities, whose trials were unfair.
On March 22, 2021, her sentence of five years
in prison, followed by a five-year travel ban, handed down in November 2020,
was upheld on appeal. On April 14, 2021, MENA Rights Group and ALQST for Human
Rights sent an urgent appeal to the UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of
human rights defenders, asking her to call on the Saudi authorities to
immediately and unconditionally release Al Sadah and other detained activists.
On 27 June 2021, Nassima al-Sada was
conditionally released from detention upon the expiry of her prison term
sentence. Nassima al-Sada will continue to be on a travel ban for five years,
which restricts her basic right to freedom to movement and expression.
https://menarights.org/en/caseprofile/prison-sentence-against-womens-rights-defender-nassima-al-sadah-upheld
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