Saudi Arabia this month said it detained 17 people for “undermining” the kingdom’s security.

State-backed media published pictures of veteran driving activists, the word “traitor” stamped across them in red.

“It’s a complete contradiction for the government to proclaim it is in favour of new freedoms for women and then target and detain women for demanding those freedoms,” Samah Hadid, Amnesty International’s Middle East director of campaigns, told AFP.

The arrests have unleashed a torrent of global criticism — including from vocal supporters of Prince Mohammed’s reform drive, such as Bernard Haykel, a professor at Princeton University.

Calling the crackdown “a mistake”, he has urged the government to “apply due process and the rule of law” in handling jailed activists’ cases.

Observers say the arrests seem calculated by the crown prince to placate clerics incensed by the modernisation drive and to send a clear signal that the pace of reform will be driven by him alone, not the activists.

Back at the institute, as the floodlights dimmed and the women bikers donned their abayas to leave, the crackdown was not a topic of discussion.

“A climate of fear is now evident in Saudi Arabia,” Hadid said.

Share This Post