After one month of incommunicado detention, Manahel al-Otaibi contacted her family on September 1, 2024, and told them she was again being held in solitary confinement and brutally beaten by fellow prisoners and prison guards. On January 9, 2024, Saudi Arabia’s infamous Specialized Criminal Court sentenced Manahel al-Otaibi, a 30-year-old fitness instructor and women’s rights activist, to 11 years in prison for “terrorist offences” 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 had forcibly disappeared Manahel al-Otaibi between November 5, 2023 and April 14, 2024.
PLEASE TAKE ACTION AS SOON AS POSSIBLE UNTIL: March 6, 2025
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 Fourth 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]
CC: 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]
Salutation: Your Royal Highness
sample letter:
Dear Minister of Justice,
I am distressed to learn that 30-year-old fitness instructor and women’s rights activist, Manahel al-Otaibi, is being subjected to torture and other ill-treatment in al-Malaz Prison. After a one-month period of renewed incommunicado detention, Manahel al-Otaibi was able to contact her family, and she alleged she had been held in solitary confinement for a full month and subject to beatings by prison guards and fellow prisoners.
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.
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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