Women human rights defenders in the Arab world suffer a large share of repressive policies and persecution.
The world celebrated the International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women, while women human rights defenders in the Arab world suffer a large share of repressive policies and persecution practiced by Arab governments and other non-state actors.
In the UAE, human rights defender Maryam Al-Balooshi is still in detention in Al-Wathba prison, despite the end of her sentence, which included acts of torture, solitary confinement and ill-treatment, along with other prisoners. While the prisoner, Alia_Abdul-Nour, died in her prison as a result of neglect and ill-treatment.
In Saudi Arabia, the authorities detain many women on the grounds of their peaceful activity or their right to express an opinion, as human rights sources indicate that 87 women have been arbitrarily arrested in recent years, most of them during the reign of King Salman and his crown prince.
“ Women human rights defenders in the Arab world, fight on two levels: first as human rights defenders, and second as women. There is double discrimination and double-violence.”
- Ned EL-ATTAR, executive director, SOHRI
In Libya, the Swedish Observatory for Human Rights Information recalls the case of the Libyan activist, Iftikhar Boudhraa, who was detained by the forces of retired Major General Khalifa Haftar in Benghazi four years ago. She was subjected to various forms of violence during her detention, due to her call - on social media - to combat chaos and the militarization of the state in the eastern part of Libya.
In Yemen, human rights reports, including a report by a United Nations team of experts, documented flagrant violations committed by the Houthi group "Ansar Allah" against abducted opposition women in the group's prisons, which amounted to rape, sexual exploitation, and various forms of torture, in addition to targeting them with indiscriminate shelling and mines.
As for Syria, the picture is darker due to suffering, persecution, and targeted killing, arrest, and displacement at the hands of the ruling regime and its international supporters, and to a lesser extent at the hands of other parties involved in the bloody conflict that the country has been witnessing for years.
