Norah AlTaweel - In Danger of Prison, Torture and Death

Norah AlTaweel like so many women, was subjected to the very laws that cause so many women to run away. We leave our homes, friends, families, and culture in search of safety from the Male Guardianship Laws. A law that keeps us under the control of a male guardian be he a husband, a father, an uncle, or a brother. 

The strain of being in a new place where you know no one, miss everyone, and everything we left behind is hard enough to bear without the added pressure and death threats we receive. The learning curve is hard, and coping with all the trauma we often carry with us is even harder when you have no one to look out for you and people are coming after you. 

Norah’s sister Amerah was married Al Waleed bin Talal Al Saud, a Saudi Arabian billionaire businessman, investor, philanthropist, and royal member of the House of Saud. Unsurprising because of the family connection, Norah and the rest of her sisters were held for potentially equally advantageous marriages. (Her sister Amerah is currently divorced from Al Waleed bin Talal and is remarried to a wealthy UAE business man, she now works within MBS's close circle).

Free thinking, standing our ground against sexual abuse, and asking for equal rights only cause us to be called mentally insane by those whom we were told were there to protect us through guardianship. Instead, the law itself facilitates abuses of the worst kinds. Norah was sexually harassed by her brother, and she had no course for recourse. Her mother, like any good mother would do tried to protect her daughter with what limited power she had. When her mother passed, Norah knew she needed to escape. In 2011, she escaped to the US. Sadly, she was so frighted of what might be done to her by the regime if she had tried to apply for asylum in the US. She tried to live her life, play along, and do her best to appease the Saudi government officials who were harassing her and asking her to return to Saudi Arabia. 

Anyone close to the Royal family who speaks out is captured, brought back, and disappears. Salma al-Shehab, for example, got a prison sentence, which is now set at 27 years, but she is not close to the Royal family. Salma only shamed the country by speaking about Women’s Rights on Twitter. Norah shamed the Royal House of Al Saud for her courage in posting a video of herself on YouTube. Sentences in Saudi Arabia are handed out not for what crime you committed but for how much trouble you might cause and how many people you might rally to that cause. Jamal Khashoggi is another perfect example of this; they could not convince him to go back, and because he used to be close to the Royal family, he was a credible source of the injustices people, especially women, face. He was considered dangerous to the regime. His sentence: To be chopped up into little pieces and never be seen again - What do you think Norah faces if she returns?

She had a good job and was getting on with her life until her phone was hacked. The fly army collected the contacts of her work colleagues. They contacted all of them to notify them that she was mentally insane and needed to be returned to Saudi Arabia.

After the struggle with her work she decided to do her PhD in Miami, FL. During her first year she tweeted and criticized the Saudi government. Suddenly, The Saudi Cultural Mission refused to continue to fund her PhD, and the school dismissed her. When she inquired why the Saudi Cultural Mission did so, she was told that her grades were below the requirement, even though Norah showed them the transcripts, which proved that her grades were perfectly in line with what was needed. They told her she must return home now. 

Unfortunately, Saudi Arabia is not ruled by laws but by one man, and what he says goes even if it is contrary to the very laws he claims to put in place. Everything is vague for a reason, and that reason alone makes it very dangerous for any Saudi woman to be returned to a country where the Male Guardianship Law keeps us as modern-day slaves. 

Because of her family's royal connection through marriage, she is in even more danger than most. The likelihood that she will be forced back to Saudi Arabia is high. The only reason we hear about cases like Salma Al-Sheab, Loujain Alhathloul, and others is because the regime, not their families, took them. In Norah’s case, the regime and her family are the same. She will be tortured and locked up until they can decide what to do with her. She will be placed in a medically induced coma to make sure she stays silent, and eventually death. In cases like these, the bodies are never found, and in many cases, to throw off anyone who dares ask where she is and what happened to her. They hack their personal social media accounts and post randomly every once in a while. So when the press says, “What happened to Norah Al-Taweel?” The simple political answer is she is safe with her family, and you can see that she is still active on social media; next question.” When, in actuality, she would be more than likely dead.

Instead of returning to Saudi out of fear for her life, she fled to the UK where she applied for Asylum, but the UK Home Office said, “You did not demonstrate that the authorities have an interest in you, which will make your life difficult in Saudi Arabia.” I urge the UK Home Office to reconsider the verdict and permit her asylum. She is currently applying for an appeal to her case in the UK. I will keep you updated on the case as much as I can.

Elise Evans Martin

Proud Dissident of Saudi Arabia | Female Women's Rights Activist | Author | Speaker & Executive Director of HRM (Human Rights Matter)