On Tuesday, the United States urged Saudi Arabia to review their prisoners of conscience cases and at the same time also urged to lift their travel bans and other restrictions that were imposed on the rights of women activists previously released from jail.
The debate held at the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHCR), ‘Michele Taylor’ the United States Ambassador to the Geneva-based body, called on Riyadh, a traditional ally and US security partner, in order to resolve the cases of “prisoners of conscience” -a term which is usually used for referring the political detainees, though she did not name any.
Taylor said in a statement that “We urge Saudi Arabia to resolve cases of prisoners of conscience fully and to lift travel bans and other restrictions on previously released women’s rights activists.” This speech he gave on the day of International Women’s Day.
Iceland and Luxembourg also called for Saudi Arabia’s human rights record research. Luxembourg’s Ambassador Marc Bichler stated that “repression” of freedom of expression, association and assembly for activists intensified in Saudi Arabia.
Under the power of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, the Kingdom’s de facto ruler, the Saudi administration has detained activists, clerics and royal family members in a sweeping crackdown on dissent over the past many years.
The detentions have cast a spotlight on the record of human rights in the Kingdom, an absolute monarchy that has also faced intense criticism over the 2018 murder of Khashoggi. Saudi officials reject there are any political prisoners in the Kingdom.
Hundreds of women rights activists were detained in fear of harming Saudi interests before and after the Kingdom in 2018 lifted a ban on women driving as a part of social reforms accompanied by a crackdown.
One of the prominent women activists, ‘Loujain al-Hathloul’ was released last February after serving half of her custodial sentence on broad cybercrime and counterterrorism charges. She was on a five years ban.
In 2021 June, Riyadh released two women’s rights activists nearly after three years of jail.