Growing up, Fawzia Al Otaibi and her two sisters, Manahel and Mariam, longed for a different life. Born into conservative families and attending school in Saudi Arabia, they chafed at the rules and restrictions imposed on them. Whenever they had the chance, they challenged them, irritating their teachers as rebellious and disruptive.
When social media was introduced in Saudi Arabia, people used it to denounce laws such as the male guardianship system, which requires adult women to have a male guardian’s permission to travel, work and marry. Mariam was arrested first, followed by Fawzia, but Manahel’s posts about the authorities’ actions led to their release.
Tom LevittThe Guardian’s Rights and Freedoms Editor says: Michael Safi The sisters continued to be arrested, even as Saudi Arabia promoted its vision of an increasingly open society in which women’s rights were expanded and even guardianship laws were relaxed. Fawzia thought she was safe after fleeing the country, but her years of activism drew the ire of the authorities, and what followed would shatter the sisters’ lives.
Synthesis: Handouts
