Solidarity with women's rights activists: Several activists arrested in Saudi Arabia

At least eight authors and bloggers have been arrested in Saudi Arabia, including two US citizens. The detainees are supporters of the eleven women's rights activists, who are accused, inter alia, of allegations of being an agent, said the Saudi Arabian human rights group ALQST based in London.

Among the detainees are the author and physician Bader al-Ibrahim and Salah al-Haidar, the son of well-known activist Aziza al-Jussef. Both have both Saudi Arabian and US citizenship. The Saudi Arabian group "Prisoners of Conscience" spoke of ten detainees. Neither the Saudi Arabian authorities nor the US Embassy in Riyadh spoke at first.

The arrests began on Thursday, the day before, the eleven women's rights activists had again been in court. One of the detainees, university lecturer Anas al-Masru, was arrested last month after several activists declared his solidarity with the women during a discussion at a book fair in Riyadh.

Arabia's launches wave of arrests over rights support. There is no end in sight to this crackdown https://t.co/1tOmYxY0FH

"The Saudi Arabian authorities seem eager to silence anyone who dares to express their views privately or publicly," said Samah Hadid, Amnesty International's Middle East Director. Saudi Arabian activist Nora Abdulkarim wrote on Twitter that the worrying factor about the "new wave of arrests" is that lesser-known activists are being arrested.

The women's rights activists were arrested last year after demanding, inter alia, the right of women to drive a car. One month later, the ban on driving women was lifted. They are accused of entertaining "suspicious" contacts with foreigners and trying to jeopardize the "security and stability" of the kingdom. (Read more about this topic here.)

Three of them were temporarily released last week. Some of the eleven accused women said they had been tortured and sexually molested in detention.