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Friday, February 15, 2013

Saudi Arabia's women are shaking themselves awake


The Kuwaiti protests have made their way into Saudi Arabia too .... but of course the MSM won't tell you nothing about them.  We should be elated that the woman of the underclass in Saudi Arabia are making a stand.  The rich women there are hardly found in that shariah country for more than a few weeks a year ... the rest of the time they live it up minus their black sacks on yachts sailing the French Riviera or  shopping non-stop in Bond Street, London.

From AmnestyInternational:
Three women still detained following protests  in Saudi Arabia on Saturday 9 February should be released immediately and unconditionally, Amnesty International said today.
The protests were held in Riyadh and Buraida, a city north of the capital, to call for the release of relatives detained without charge or trial or held beyond the expiry of their sentences.
Around a dozen women and five children protested outside the Riyadh offices of Saudi Arabia’s National Society for Human Rights, a human rights body set up by the authorities in 2004, after they attempted to meet with officials in the office but were told they were not available.
Women protesters told Amnesty International that they were surrounded by police cars after they took out their placards to protest. Buses were brought into the area, and a total of 25 police cars surrounded the area. Some of the women were reportedly beaten and their placards taken by force. One woman fell in a nearby hole in the ground as a result of the attack. A 12-year-old boy, whose father has been detained without charge or trial for 10 years, was beaten and had the placards he was carrying taken from him by force.

Fatima al-Misnid, daughter of Bahia al-Rashudi, who continues to be detained at al-Malaz prison in Riyadh, told Amnesty that about 10 female guards surrounded her and beat her until she fell on the floor before being dragged onto the bus.
Around 13 individuals were arrested and taken to the General Directorate of Investigation at around 3pm and interrogated three times without a lawyer present. They were asked about who they were, who was leading their group, how they co-ordinated their activities and if they had Twitter accounts. One woman was reportedly asked by an official if she knew that protests were forbidden under Shari’a (Islamic law), to which she responded there are different opinions on this.
The women and children were apparently not provided with food until around midnight after the women had pleaded with officials on behalf of their children. Later that night, at around 1.30am, some of the women and all of the children were released.



Three women continue to be detained in al-Malaz prison and reportedly have no access to their families; they are expected to be referred to court. Apart from Bahia al-Rashudi, the daughter of 76-year-old prominent reformist Dr Suliaman al-Rushudi, those detained are Hanan al-‘Amereeni and Hameeda al-Ghamidi. Amnesty International considers these women to be detained solely for the peaceful exercise of their right to freedom of expression and assembly and therefore prisoners of conscience; the organization calls for their immediate and unconditional release.

Dr Suliaman al-Rashudi was arrested on 12 December, two days after he had given a lecture in an informal social gathering on the legality of holding demonstrations in Shari’a. He is one of 16 men who were found guilty in November 2011 on a range of serious charges related to their peaceful human rights activism and sentenced to lengthy prison terms. In January 2013 the men were offered a royal “pardon” if they signed a pledge to not repeat their offences or engage in public activism and thank the King. Dr al-Rashudi and six others refused to sign such a pledge and consequently continue to be detained. Amnesty International considers them to be prisoners of conscience and has called for their immediate and unconditional release.

The protest organized on 9 February in Buraida was held outside the Board of Grievances, an administrative court with jurisdiction to consider complaints against the state and its public services. At least 15 women and 10 children were reported to have been arrested by the police. Most were taken to the main police station in Buraida, but some of those under the age of 30 were taken to the girls’ section in the Social Welfare Home; at the end of the day they were all transferred to the General Prison in Buraida. All of the women and children were released without charge at around 11.30pm on 11 February....

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