On January 9, 2024, Saudi Arabia’s infamous Specialized Criminal Court sentenced Manahel al-Otaibi, a 29-year-old fitness instructor and women’s rights activist, to 11 years in prison for “terrorist offenses” in a secret trial. She was arrested on November 16, 2022 and charged with violating the Anti-Cyber Crime Law due to her tweets in support of women’s rights as well as posting photos of herself at the mall without an abaya (a traditional loose-fitting long-sleeved robe) on Snapchat. Saudi authorities forcibly disappeared Manahel al-Otaibi between November 5, 2023 and April 14, 2024. On April 14, 2024, she contacted her family and told them she was being held in solitary confinement in al-Malaz Prison with a broken leg after being brutally beaten in detention, and without access to medical care.
PLEASE TAKE ACTION AS SOON AS POSSIBLE UNTIL: July 1, 2024
take action:
- Write a letter in your own words or using the sample below as a guide to one or both government officials listed. You can also email, fax, call or Tweet them.
- Click here to let us know the actions you took on Third Urgent Action 14.24. It’s important to report because we share the total number with the officials we are trying to persuade and the people we are trying to help.
Contact information:
Waleed Mohammed Al Smani
Minister of Justice
Riyadh, Saudi Arabia
Postal Code 11472, P.O.Box 7775
Email: [email protected]
Embassy of Saudi Arabia in the United States
Her Royal Highness Princess Reema bint Bandar bin Sultan bin Abdulaziz Al Saud
601 New Hampshire Ave
NW, Washington, DC 20037
Email: [email protected]
sample letter:
Your Excellency,
I am writing to express my concerned that the Specialized Criminal Court in Saudi Arabia has sentenced 29-year-old fitness instructor and women’s rights activist, Manahel al-Otaibi, to 11 years in prison on “terrorist offenses” after a secret trial. The decision was only revealed weeks later in the Saudi government’s formal reply to a request for information in a Joint Communication by UN Special Rapporteurs about her case.
Manahel al-Otaibi was arrested on November 16, 2022 and charged with violating the Anti-Cyber Crime Law for tweeting hashtags in support of women’s rights and posting photos on Snapchat of herself at the mall wearing “immodest” clothing. On April 14, 2024, after a period more than five months of enforced disappearance, Manahel al-Otaibi called her family to inform them that she is being held in solitary confinement in al-Malaz Prison with a broken leg after being brutally beaten, and without access to medical care.
I urge you to order the immediate and unconditional release of Manahel al-Otaibi, as she has been convicted solely for peacefully exercising her right to freedom of expression. Pending her release, she must be granted immediate access to medical care, and her allegations of torture and other ill-treatment must be impartially investigated.
Yours sincerely,
[YOUR NAME]
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