As Saudi Arabia pushes socioeconomic change, arrests show limits to reform

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DUBAI —  Over the past week, news emerged that Saudi Arabia's counterterrorism court found Manahel al-Otaibi guilty in January of having committed a “number of terrorist offenses." The kingdom revealed the sentencing in a reply to a request for information from the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR). The Specialized Criminal Court handed down a sentence of 11 years in prison to the Riyadh-based 29-year-old fitness instructor who promoted female empowerment on social media before she was arrested in November 2022.

The OHCHR reported in December 2023 that charges initially brought against Otaibi by Saudi authorities related to violations of the Anti-Cyber Crime Law, such as “opposing the laws relating to women,” including the male guardianship system, and going out without wearing the loose-fitting, body-shrouding robe known as the abaya. Prosecutors later added the charges of “defaming the Kingdom at home and abroad, calling for rebellion against public order and society’s traditions and customs.” 

Human rights groups have accused the Specialized Criminal Court of conducting “grossly unfair” trials, and Amnesty International found that Saudi Arabia prosecuted at least 32 individuals as of January 2024 for expressing opinions on social media. Yet Saudi Arabia said in its reply to the OHCHR that “no person is held in detention in Saudi Arabia for exercising their rights and freedoms.” The kingdom added that freedom of expression is guaranteed in the country “unless such acts are deemed to breach or exceed the bounds of public order or the norms applicable to society.”