cross-posted from: https://lemmy.ca/post/20917977
cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/15236948
Last week one was sentenced to 11 years, another had to flee the country, a third could be arrested at any moment. And what were Manahel, Maryam and Fawzia al-Otaibi’s ‘crimes’? A few social media posts that outraged Saudi Arabia’s conservatives
In September 2022, Fawzia al-Otaibi was a week into a trip to her home country of Saudi Arabia, staying with a friend near the Bahrain border, when her phone rang. As soon as she heard the male voice on the other end of the line, she realised that returning had been a terrible mistake.
It was a police officer who, in 2019, had tracked her down and fined her for public indecency after she had posted a video on her Snapchat account, showing her dancing in jeans and a baseball cap at a concert in Riyadh. She and her two sisters, Maryam and Manahel, had become targets in a campaign of arrests, threats and intimidation by the Saudi authorities after they had used their popular social media channels to post about women’s rights. For her, the dancing clip wasn’t a political statement; it was just about sharing a happy moment with her followers.
After the fine, Fawzia left Saudi Arabia for Dubai and hadn’t been back to her home country in three years. She thought the authorities had forgotten about her. She was wrong.
The entire thing is horrible, but this is the worst part:
Fawzia says that a few months later, “they asked our family to kill us”. The authorities argued it would stop the shame they were bringing on the family. “They said, ‘We will help your son do it,’ but my family refused,” she says. “
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In September 2022, Fawzia al-Otaibi was a week into a trip to her home country of Saudi Arabia, staying with a friend near the Bahrain border, when her phone rang.
It was a police officer who, in 2019, had tracked her down and fined her for public indecency after she had posted a video on her Snapchat account, showing her dancing in jeans and a baseball cap at a concert in Riyadh.
She and her two sisters, Maryam and Manahel, had become targets in a campaign of arrests, threats and intimidation by the Saudi authorities after they had used their popular social media channels to post about women’s rights.
This time it was to tell her that Manahel had been convicted of terrorism offences by a court in Saudi Arabia, for uploading pictures of herself with her head uncovered, and social media posts supporting women’s rights.
Although they were very different – Maryam, the older sister, was maternal and protective; Manahel was adventurous and extroverted; Fawzia quieter and more private – they all refused to accept what they were being taught about the role of women in Saudi society.
Fawzia’s continued activism on behalf of her sisters – and refusal to be silenced on calling for women’s rights – means that she faces a constant barrage of online harassment and abuse from anonymous accounts, and from Saudi government officials who say she is bringing shame on her family and homeland.
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