Meet Our Hero's

Meet Loujain al-Hathloul

For those of you who are unaware she went on YouTube and spoke out against the male guardianship law. In 2014 she was arrested for defying the law against women driving. She was imprisoned for 73 days. 

In 2015 she tried to stand in the Saudi local elections, the first that was to include women. She was barred from doing so. 

In 2016 along with 14,000 others, she signed a petition to the king asking for the male guardianship system to be abolished. It is called the campaign against the male guardianship system in Saudi Arabia.

Finally, in 2017 she was arrested and detained again. There was no official charge disclosed. She was denied access to a lawyer or contact with any of her family. 

Once released, she fled to the UAE, wherein, in 2018, she was kidnapped and returned to the Kingdom. Detained again and then released under a travel ban. On the eve of May 15th, 2018, she was detained again along with her fellow activists with, Eman al-Nafjan, Aisha al-Mana, Aziza al-Yousef, Madeha al-Ajroush and some men involved in campaigning for women's rights in Saudi Arabia. Human Rights Watch interpreted the purpose of the arrests as frightening "anyone expressing skepticism about the crown prince's rights agenda." 

In June 2018, women were given the right to drive in Saudi Arabia. While she and many of her fellow activists were tortured in prison. 

She was asked, as a condition for her release, to say that she was not tortured. She refused and so she remained in prison. She is now out on a travel ban (she’s not allowed to leave the country). I have also heard that she is also banned from tweeting or participating in any activism again on pain of return to prison and more torture. 

Eman al-Nafjan

Saudi Writer. 

She was arrested in June 2018, physically and sexually abused in prison. 

Released on bail but barred from travel. In 2019 she received "The Prize for Courage," awarded by Reporters Without Borders. She was unable to collect her award in person. 

The last time she published an article on her website was Sept 2017. She also signed the petition to the king asking for the male guardianship system to be abolished. 

Aziza al-Yousef

Physically and sexually abused in prison. Released in 2019, banned from travel. 

She helped lead a campaign against the male guardianship system in Saudi Arabia.

Madeha al-Ajroush

Aisha al-Mana 

These women fought hard for a cause, that cause is freedom, equal rights for women, and a new age for their daughters and granddaughters. 

The Anti-Male Guardianship Campaign is ongoing. 

All of these women, except two, were tortured and sexually abused in prison. Further research showed that these atrocities were under the supervision of Saud al-Qahtani, a former close advisor of Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman AKA MBS.

If Saud Al-Qahtani’s name doesn’t ring a bell, he was the one who supervised the murder of Jamal Khashoggi, a prominent dissident, and critic of the Saudi government. May he rest in peace. But his death taught MBS a valuable lesson. The creating of martyrs is a dangerous business… 

14,000 women were brave enough to sign a petition asking for an end to the male guardianship laws. 

According to Saudi law, every Saudi citizen has the right to petition the king. Unfortunately, once the petition is delivered, trumped-up charges appear like the attempt to cause civil unrest are issued, and the ring leaders are rounded up. 

In 2003 and then 2004, a petition was signed asking for the royal family to begin moving toward a constitutional monarchy. The minister of interior summoned 20 of the signers to his office and asked them not to sign any more petitions. They refused. In response, they were accused of trying to dismantle the royal government. They left the meeting and started holding secret meetings to discuss political reform. A few months later, 13 of them were arrested for making statements that did not serve national unity. 10 were released after signing a promise not present any more petitions. Three refused, they remained in prison. Soon after, in a closed court, those three men were found guilty of sedition and sentenced to 6, 7 & 9 years in prison. 

Our system was created to make people feel heard while all the while creating a way to create the illusion of freedom but never freedom in itself. They had the right to ask for change in their country. Their reward for peacefully petitioning their leaders was a prison sentence. Way to set a precedent for people not to bother petitioning and just get to protesting. I mean, if you’re going to get locked up and silenced anyway, you might as well be loud enough to be heard.