SAudi Arabia is undergoing a rebranding process. Since 2016, when he first announced an economic diversification plan, he has poured billions of dollars into making the kingdom appear more progressive to outsiders. Women can now drive cars and do jobs that were previously prohibited. Huge sums of money are being invested in futuristic architectural “gigaprojects” such as The Line, a vast desert supercity, to attract international tourists.
But inside the kingdom, the people tell a very different story. On the back of an image-building project, thousands of Saudi nationals According to some reports, you may be prevented from leaving the country by an arbitrary and illegal travel ban. Their crime? Protection of basic human rights.
Among them is my sister, Loujain al-Hathloul. Loujain is a prominent women’s rights advocate in Saudi Arabia, where she led a campaign against a ban on women driving and campaigned tirelessly for an end to male guardianship.
Loujain’s brave and outspoken activism was met with repression by Saudi authorities. In March 2018, she was abducted from a street in the United Arab Emirates and forcibly taken to Saudi Arabia. Once she entered Saudi Arabia, she was banned from traveling illegally and banned from leaving the country, and a few months later she was arbitrarily arrested. Her indictment explicitly mentions her human rights work, and her sister was tried in the Specialized Criminal Court (SCC) under the Anti-Terrorism Act, which routinely uses methods to disrupt civil society. It is used as. Lujan was released in February 2021 under strict conditions, including being barred from leaving her kingdom. Her travel ban was scheduled to end on November 13, 2023, almost three years later. But in February this year, long after her ban had expired, Loujain was told she was still under a permanent travel ban with no expiry date. The authorities have not provided any valid reason and continue to ignore our inquiries.
This applies not only to Loujain, but also to all of his remaining family members in Saudi Arabia. They also found out in 2018 that they were banned from traveling regardless of a judicial decision, and have not been able to resolve the issue ever since. These blatant violations of the right to freedom of movement are in direct contradiction to international law and Saudi Arabia’s own legal framework.
As we know the modus operandi of the authorities, living in Saudi Arabia under a travel ban means living in a constant state of fear. Usually, the kingdom bans someone from leaving the country and then arrests them, as in the case of Loujain.
I live in Brussels but haven’t seen my family for over 6 years. Every day I wake up in the morning and have to make sure my family is safe. I miss them and like everyone else, I wish I had the chance to go back to Saudi Arabia to see them. But I know that if I go back, I’ll be stuck there too.
My family’s story is one of many. Another courageous women’s rights activist, Mariam Al Otaibi, also experienced this. imprisonment and oppression. She was banned from illegally traveling in 2019. After criticizing her treatment on social media, she was called by the police and charged with speaking out about her ordeal. She was sentenced to four months in prison and fined 100,000 riyals (£21,300).
This is a systemic problem that will not go away on its own. Despite outward signs that the kingdom is becoming more progressive, Saudi authorities routinely use arbitrary travel bans as a means of repression. As a result, individuals are deterred from engaging in human rights work for their own safety or that of their relatives.
There is no legal basis for such travel bans, so there is no way to formally challenge them. Those affected will not be notified and will only learn about the restrictions when attempting to travel outside the kingdom. They are unable to pursue personal goals or visit family abroad.
As Saudi Arabia seeks to rebrand itself on the world stage as an increasingly moderate power, it is hard to ignore the government’s obvious hypocrisy in promoting tourism while denying its citizens the fundamental right to freedom of movement. It won’t happen. The international community must hold Saudi Arabia accountable for its gross human rights violations and not allow sportswash and celebrity partnerships to distract from the real lives of the Saudi people.
The time has come for Saudi Arabia to open its heart not only to tourists but also to its own citizens. Until then, only a bright façade of progress will remain, masking the harsh realities of oppression and injustice.
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Lina Al-Hathloul is the Director of Monitoring and Advocacy at ALQST for Human Rights. She is the co-author of the book Loujain Dreams of Sunflowers. Foz al-Otaibi, who also contributed to this article, is a social media influencer and women’s rights activist who is currently living in exile after being prosecuted by the Saudi government for her social media activities.
