Today, May 15, 2020, marks two years of imprisonment for Saudi women’s rights activist Loujain al-Hathloul. I am writing to ask you to raise your voice — Tweet, make a statement, etc — for Loujain to be released. Please call on the State Department to use its influence to pressure Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman to release her. As a woman in Congress, you have a unique opportunity to advocate for Loujain’s freedom and the freedom of all Saudi women. A number of organizations — CODEPINK, Amnesty International, Women’s March Global, CIVICUS, ISHR, WHRD-MENA, Gulf Centre for Human Rights, ADHRB, Equality Now, and more — are all taking action today on social media to call for Loujain's release. Will you join them? A bit about Loujain: Loujain al-Hathloul gained notoriety in 2013 for campaigning against the driving ban when she posted videos of herself driving as an act of civil disobedience. She was first arrested in December 2014 when she attempted to drive from the United Arab Emirates to Saudi Arabia and spent 73 days in prison. Al-Hathloul has also been an outspoken advocate for an end to the male guardianship system that treats women as no more than children throughout their entire lives. On May 15, 2018, a group of armed men from the state security agency raided Loujain’s house and arrested her. For the first three months of her detention, she was held incommunicado with no access to her family or a lawyer. According to the communication she was later able to have with her family, during those three months, she was beaten, waterboarded, given electric shocks, sexually harassed, and threatened with rape and murder. Loujain was offered her freedom in exchange for denying, on video, that she was subjected to torture, but she refused. The fact that MbS lifted the driving ban and simultaneously put in prison those, including Loujain, who had campaigned and suffered for such reforms makes clear his actual motive: to silence dissent and prevent these women’s voices from being heard. Loujain’s sister Lina al-Hathloul says that the regime arrested these women’s rights activists “so that they make the [Saudi] people understand that change only comes top down.” We know, however, that change can also come from solidarity from the world community. Please take action as a leading woman in Congress to show Saudi Arabia that women around the world are united in securing freedom for Saudi women. Please raise your voice for Loujain al-Hathloul to be released!

Today, May 15, 2020, marks two years of imprisonment for Saudi women’s rights activist Loujain al-Hathloul. I am writing to ask you to raise your voice — Tweet, make a statement, etc — for Loujain to be released. Please call on the State Department to use its influence to pressure Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman to release her. As a woman in Congress, you have a unique opportunity to advocate for Loujain’s freedom and the freedom of all Saudi women. A number of organizations — CODEPINK, Amnesty International, Women’s March Global, CIVICUS, ISHR, WHRD-MENA, Gulf Centre for Human Rights, ADHRB, Equality Now, and more — are all taking action today on social media to call for Loujain's release. Will you join them? A bit about Loujain: Loujain al-Hathloul gained notoriety in 2013 for campaigning against the driving ban when she posted videos of herself driving as an act of civil disobedience. She was first arrested in December 2014 when she attempted to drive from the United Arab Emirates to Saudi Arabia and spent 73 days in prison. Al-Hathloul has also been an outspoken advocate for an end to the male guardianship system that treats women as no more than children throughout their entire lives. On May 15, 2018, a group of armed men from the state security agency raided Loujain’s house and arrested her. For the first three months of her detention, she was held incommunicado with no access to her family or a lawyer. According to the communication she was later able to have with her family, during those three months, she was beaten, waterboarded, given electric shocks, sexually harassed, and threatened with rape and murder. Loujain was offered her freedom in exchange for denying, on video, that she was subjected to torture, but she refused. The fact that MbS lifted the driving ban and simultaneously put in prison those, including Loujain, who had campaigned and suffered for such reforms makes clear his actual motive: to silence dissent and prevent these women’s voices from being heard. Loujain’s sister Lina al-Hathloul says that the regime arrested these women’s rights activists “so that they make the [Saudi] people understand that change only comes top down.” We know, however, that change can also come from solidarity from the world community. Please take action as a leading woman in Congress to show Saudi Arabia that women around the world are united in securing freedom for Saudi women. Please raise your voice for Loujain al-Hathloul to be released!

Today, May 15, 2020, marks two years of imprisonment for Saudi women’s rights activist Loujain al-Hathloul. I am writing to ask you to raise your voice — Tweet, make a statement, etc — for Loujain to be released. Please call on the State Department to use its influence to pressure Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman to release her. As a woman in Congress, you have a unique opportunity to advocate for Loujain’s freedom and the freedom of all Saudi women. A number of organizations — CODEPINK, Amnesty International, Women’s March Global, CIVICUS, ISHR, WHRD-MENA, Gulf Centre for Human Rights, ADHRB, Equality Now, and more — are all taking action today on social media to call for Loujain's release. Will you join them? A bit about Loujain: Loujain al-Hathloul gained notoriety in 2013 for campaigning against the driving ban when she posted videos of herself driving as an act of civil disobedience. She was first arrested in December 2014 when she attempted to drive from the United Arab Emirates to Saudi Arabia and spent 73 days in prison. Al-Hathloul has also been an outspoken advocate for an end to the male guardianship system that treats women as no more than children throughout their entire lives. On May 15, 2018, a group of armed men from the state security agency raided Loujain’s house and arrested her. For the first three months of her detention, she was held incommunicado with no access to her family or a lawyer. According to the communication she was later able to have with her family, during those three months, she was beaten, waterboarded, given electric shocks, sexually harassed, and threatened with rape and murder. Loujain was offered her freedom in exchange for denying, on video, that she was subjected to torture, but she refused. The fact that MbS lifted the driving ban and simultaneously put in prison those, including Loujain, who had campaigned and suffered for such reforms makes clear his actual motive: to silence dissent and prevent these women’s voices from being heard. Loujain’s sister Lina al-Hathloul says that the regime arrested these women’s rights activists “so that they make the [Saudi] people understand that change only comes top down.” We know, however, that change can also come from solidarity from the world community. Please take action as a leading woman in Congress to show Saudi Arabia that women around the world are united in securing freedom for Saudi women. Please raise your voice for Loujain al-Hathloul to be released!