From November 21-22, Saudi Arabia hosted the G20 Leaders’ Summit. The Summit brought together some of the wealthiest and most powerful countries in the world, including Canada, to address global issues. We let Canada and other G20 member states know that if they didn’t make women’s rights and freedoms their business at the G20, they’d legitimize Saudi Arabia’s atrocious human rights record. We called on G20 member states to #UnmuteSaudiVoices & #FreeSaudiFeminists
On November 24, Saudi Arabia announced a trial hearing for the five jailed women human rights defenders. The hearing was held on November 25 and instead of releasing Loujain, the court moved her case to the Specialized Criminal Court (anti-terrorism court). In the wake of this news, we need to keep up our activism even though the G20 Leaders’ Summit has now passed!
TAKE ACTION
- Like and share the content we share on Facebook, Twitter & Instagram to make some noise!
- Sign our e-action calling for Saudi authorities to release the jailed women human rights defenders.
- Sign our e-action calling on Saudi authorities to release Nassima al-Sada.
- Write a letter, and encourage children in your life to write a letter, calling for the release of Saudi women human rights defender Nassima al-Sada as part of Amnesty’s annual Write for Rights letter-writing marathon.
Background
Hosting the G20 Summit is part of Saudi Arabia’s efforts to improve its image. But the glamour of hosting a major global summit masks what is really going on in Saudi Arabia—a brutal government campaign of repression, intolerance, and human rights violations.
Under the leadership of Crown Prince Mohamed bin Salman (MBS), human rights defenders, women’s rights activists, writers, artists, religious clerics, protestors and bloggers have been persecuted, silenced, detained, tortured and handed lengthy prison sentences for demanding reforms and advocating for peaceful change. Several were sentenced to death and executed based on so-called “confessions” extracted under torture.
The state-ordered murder of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi in 2018 at the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul, is but one chilling example of how far the Saudi authorities are willing to go to muzzle critical voices.
Until the G20 Summit, being held from November 21-22, we will be campaigning in support of human rights and human rights defenders in Saudi Arabia, and in particular women human rights defenders like Nassima al-Sada. Will be advocating for Canada, as a G20 member, to use the G20 Summit to promote human rights in the kingdom.
GREAT NEWS! On November 18, we handed over 12,160 petition signatures to Canada’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, calling on him to put human rights front and centre at this week’s G20 Leaders’ Summit! These signatures were part of over 195,000 signatures collected from around the world calling on G20 member states to address Saudi Arabia’s human rights record at the Summit. Also on November 18, the National Post published an op ed written by Walid al-Hathloul, Loujain’s brother, calling for her release.
LEARN MORE about the ongoing persecution of women human rights defenders in Saudi Arabia.
