A court in Saudi Arabia has sentenced Nasima al-Sadeh, a female human rights activist, to nearly three years in prison.
According to the Arab 21 website, the son of Nasima al-Sadeh, a female human rights activist, said that the Riyadh Court of Appeal sentenced her mother to five years in prison, with a two-year suspension.
He added: “According to this sentence, and if the Ramadan amnesty is not taken into account, the prison term will end in late June, ie a few days before Eid al-Adha.”
A number of human rights activists and defenders, including Samar Badawi, Mia Al-Zahrani, Maha al-Rafidi, and Khadijeh al-Harbi, are still in prison, according to Saudi officials.
Ever since US President Joe Biden came to power, Saudi Arabia has sought to resolve the issue of detainees, especially women, and released a group of them, including Lajin al-Hazloul.
However, the release of al-Hazloul and others did not prevent women from continuing to face restrictions, including travel bans and the need to appear in court.
Saudi officials have not yet released official statistics on the number of political and human rights prisoners in the country, but according to the Middle East news website, international human rights organizations have reported the number of political prisoners in Saudi Arabia at around 30,000.
According to IRNA, Saudi officials have released a small number of political prisoners and human rights defenders from prisons in recent months in a show of strength to maintain and strengthen ties with the new US administration, which has previously accused Riyadh of human rights abuses. But according to AFP, these people face travel bans.