Hathloul, 31, was arrested in a sweep in May 2018 that targeted well-known opponents of the law prohibiting women from driving, which has since been terminated.
Last December, the Riyadh Specialized Criminal Court – a terror court – sentenced Hathloul to five years and eight months in prison, including a two-year and ten-month suspension, according to a statement released by his family. With the time she served, the sentence paved the way for Hathloul’s release on Wednesday.
Hathloul will remain on probation for three years after her release, during which time she could be arrested for any illegal activity, the family said in a statement in December. She will also be banned from traveling for five years, they said.
Hathloul’s release comes less than a week after the White House asked the kingdom to release political prisoners, including women’s rights activists. President Joe Biden has vowed to pressure Saudi Arabia to improve its rights record, marking a departure from former President Donald Trump’s reluctance to criticize the intensification of the kingdom’s crackdown on dissent in recent years.
“We are excited (about his release), but the fight for justice is not over yet,” Hathloul’s brother Walid al-Hathloul told CNN before the announcement. “We would have to work hard to ensure justice for Loujain, but we are very pleased with this news.”
The family asked people to avoid saying that Hathloul was “released”.
“Any release that does not include an independent investigation of the charges, does not include lifting the travel ban, does not include lifting the charges, it is not freedom,” said Walid al-Hathloul. “Therefore, we are far from justice.”
The terrorism court condemned Hathloul on charges of undermining national security, trying to change the Saudi political system and using his relations with foreign governments and human rights groups to “pressure the Kingdom to change its laws and systems”, according to with an accusation sheet from his family published in early December.
UN experts called the charges “spurious”. On a six-page indictment sheet for the Hathloul case, seen by CNN, a section entitled “crimes committed” includes activism against the kingdom’s restrictive male guardianship laws, along with contact with foreign journalists and diplomats.
The charges were also based on a series of alleged confessions, according to the documents, which claim that Hathloul admitted to applying for a job at the UN when he confessed to being in contact with the human rights groups Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch.
During much of his arrest, Hathloul detailed his difficulties to his parents during prison visits. These allegations were later made public by three of his brothers who live outside the kingdom and were corroborated by the testimony of other activists in court.
Hathloul said she was sexually abused and tortured while in detention, including drowning, flogging and electrocution, according to several testimonies released by her family and supporters.
Saudi officials have repeatedly denied allegations of torture and sexual abuse in their prisons.
Hathloul went on a hunger strike twice – in protest against the conditions of the prison and because communication with his relatives was denied – according to his family.
A 2019 American Bar Association Center for Human Rights report said that while the Saudi terrorism court was created in 2008 to prosecute detainees for terrorists, its “number of cases has been rapidly expanded from alleged violent extremists to include political dissidents, religious minorities. and human rights activists “. The report concluded that the court “routinely condemns individuals on charges of terrorism without any significant evidence”.
Earlier this week, a Saudi appeals court dismissed Hathloul’s allegations of torture, the family said on Twitter.
During her detention, Hathloul received several awards, including the PEN America 2019 award. Three other women’s rights activists who were arrested alongside Hathloul – Nassima al-Sada, Nouf Abdulaziz and Maya’a al-Zahrani – remain in detention, according to Amnesty International. Sada and Abdulaziz also received the PEN America award.
Asked whether the Hathloul brothers, who have been a driving force behind an international campaign for her sister’s release, will be able to speak to her on the phone after her release from detention, Walid said: “I don’t know. We’re going to have to wait to to see. ”