#Societyisready

[rapeculturerealities]

Saudi Arabian woman arrested over Twitter and Snapchat posts promoting reform | Saudi Arabia | The Guardian

A young women’s rights activist in Saudi Arabia has been arrested and imprisoned for having Twitter and Snapchat accounts that embraced recent social reforms but also demanded more fundamental rights inside the kingdom, it has emerged.

Manahel al-Otaibi, a 29-year-old certified fitness instructor and artist who frequently promoted female empowerment on her social media accounts, was arrested in November 2022. Among other charges, Otaibi was accused by Saudi authorities of using a hashtag – translated to #societyisready – to call for an end to male guardianship rules.

Otaibi has not yet been convicted or sentenced and remains in detention. But previous similar cases suggest that public demands for fundamental women’s rights – including inheritance rights, and ability to end a marriage by an abusive husband – have been deemed seditious.

The case marks the latest example of Saudis being arrested and imprisoned for using social media accounts to promote reform or challenge Saudi authorities. Salma al-Shehab, another Saudi woman and former PhD student at Leeds University, was sentenced by a terrorism court to more than three decades in jail for having a Twitter account and following and retweeting dissidents and activists.

[jhavelikes]

Al-Otaibi, a certified fitness instructor and artist who frequently promoted female empowerment on her social media accounts, was arrested in November 2022. Among other charges, Otaibi was accused by Saudi authorities of using a hashtag – translated to #societyisready – to call for an end to male guardianship rules. Her sister, Fouz al-Otaibi was also accused of not wearing decent clothing but was able to flee Saudi Arabia before her arrest. Another sister, Maryam, is a known women’s rights advocate who was detained, held, and eventually released in 2017 for protesting guardianship rules. Amnesty International and ALQST, a rights group, called on Saudi authorities to immediately and unconditionally release al-Otaibi and said her imprisonment “directly contradicts authorities’ narrative of reform and women’s empowerment”.

Saudi Arabia activist sentenced to 11 years in prison for ‘support’ of women’s rights | Saudi Arabia | The Guardian