NASSIMA AL-SADAH

 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