OPINION:
In 2011 ,then-President Barack Obama heralded “Arab Spring” and the fundamental alternatives he anticipated it would bring to the Middle East region. Of particular interest was the potential change in fundamental political issues, especially national state, sovereignty, revolution, democracy, political participation, and political opposition.
History is often our best teacher. By tracing the patterns of Arab countries, including the countries in which revolutions took place, we find a common characteristic these countries share is dealing with the utmost violence from opponents, and an effort by activists to distort a nation’s image in an effort to eliminate them. The most prominent examples happen in Egypt and Saudi Arabia.
In November of 2018, Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch released statements about alleged torture of human rights activists in Saudi Arabia’s Dhahban Prison. Based on informed sources, these two human rights groups declared that at least three women’s rights activists who were detained several months ago have been administered electric shocks, whipped, and forced to hug and kiss the authorities, leading to multiple suicide attempts in the prison.
The detainees in this prison near the Red Sea have been held without being charged. Among them are Loujain al-Hathloul, Iman al-Nafjan, Aziza al-Yousef, Samar Badawi, Nassima al-Sada, Mohammad al-Rabiaa and Dr Ibrahim al-Modeimigh, These detainees were placed in solitary confinement for the first 100 days of their detention and have not been granted any legal representation. Think about that. Solitary confinement with no charges and no legal representation, and no reason to think their situation will improve.
Ironically, shortly before the Saudi regime lifted its ban on female drivers, Saudi officials began waging a harsh crackdown on women’s rights activists. In fact, many of the activists currently detained in Saudi Arabia were incarcerated as a punishment for pushing for the right of women to drive in the Kingdom. Notwithstanding the irony, Saudi regime officials and media outlets have defamed these women, accusing them of “suspicious contact with foreign parties” and treason. These Saudi activists, if charged and convicted, could receive 20-year prison sentences. To make matters worse, the Kingdom’s press outlets have published their names, which contradicts the country’s tradition of not doing so for any citizen held in pre-trial detention.
Middle East analysts have interpreted the arrest of these women to be part of a carefully construed plan to appease conservative clerics in the Kingdom who have been uneasy Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman’s (MbS) modernization drive. He has been lauded by some in the west for permitting women to drive, for the re-opening of cinema, and for permitting an entertainment sector to emerge within the framework of the country’s ambitious Vision 2030 reform agenda. For better or for worse, some experts argue that the Saudi Crown Prince’s mixed messaging is intended to communicate to his country’s citizens that he, and he alone, will serve as the arbiter of reform in Saudi Arabia.
To no one’s surprise, officials in Riyadh have denied Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch’s reports, maintaining that detained activists have not suffered from torture or cruelty. Saudi officials refuse to allow foreigners to inspect the prison and speak with the locked-up activists. The kingdom issued an official statement saying “These recent reports by Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch are baseless.”
These are the same officials who initially denied Jamal Khashoggi had died in the Saudi Consulate in Turkey, then claimed it was an interrogation gone bad before eventually being forced by evidence to acknowledge his death was premeditated murder. Against the backdrop of the unfolding Khashoggi murder case, the Saudi government’s official narratives regarding the safety/existence of their citizens have no credibility in the eyes of the world.
The continued detention of these activists should only further contribute to a growing international outcry over Saudi Arabia’s atrocious human rights record. Although Saudi Arabia has a long record of detaining critics, dissidents, and activists, as well as using torture in the Kingdom’s prisons, Saudi authorities are under greater scrutiny at this juncture as Western politicians and civil society organizations alike are increasingly outraged by the Riyadh regime’s conduct.
Signs of the international community’s outrage and concern over these activists’ statuses were evident last month when the UN Committee against Torture called on officials in Riyadh to release the Saudi citizens and backed the Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch allegations that Saudi interrogators had tortured and mistreated them. This committee, made up of 10 independent experts, also demanded the release of Raif Badawi, a Saudi blogger who has been punished with a ten-year sentence and public floggings for voicing dissenting views on the internet. This panel has called on Riyadh to provide the UN with the relevant information about these detainees within 90 days and to “acknowledge, in law and in practice, the legitimacy of peaceful criticism and advocacy.” Moreover, as Saudi Arabia has joined the UN treaty which prohibits torture, the committee emphasized that the Kingdom must “ensure that all perpetrators are prosecuted and… ensure that the relatives of the victim obtain redress.”
It is clear the Crown Prince’s Saudi Arabia is one where alternative views, criticism of the regime, and any form of political or social dissent are forbidden. Along with the murder of Khashoggi, the plight of these human rights activists highlights the harsh authoritarian rule of MbS, which has left Saudi citizens intimidated and fearful for their futures.
Although the Crown Prince previously won much praise from Western pundits for his social reforms, seen as liberalizing Saudi Arabia, he is clearly pushing a reform agenda on his own terms. The Kingdom’s de facto ruler has created a climate of fear which Khashoggi warned about in his capacity as a Washington Post journalist.
It remains to be seen if the Riyadh regime keeps these human rights activists locked up in a misguided attempt to stand strong against mounting international pressure to release them, or gives them freedom to regain some lost good will in the West. The world is justifiably outraged with MbS and while Khashoggi cannot return to life, the Saudi Crown Prince could benefit from showing some sign of humanity and releasing these activists.
Tim Constantine is a political scholar and the host of “The Capitol Hill Show,” a nationally syndicated talk radio program. He also is a frequent guest on TV news outlets as an expert in both domestic and international politics. Khalid Al-Jaber is the director of Gulf International Forum, an assistant professor of political communication in the Gulf Studies Program at Qatar University and a visiting assistant professor at Northwestern University in Doha.
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