Jun 27, 2021 - World

Prominent women's rights activists released in Saudi Arabia

Axios

Michelle Obama, Hillary Clinton and a Saudi women's right activist — First lady Michelle Obama and then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton pose with Samar Badawi of Saudi Arabia as she receives the 2012 International Women of Courage Award in 2012. Photo: JEWEL SAMAD/AFP via Getty Images

Two women's rights activists are free, nearly three years after Saudi Arabia arrested them during a government crackdown on dissent, the London-based Saudi rights group ALQST announced on Sunday.

Why it matters: The international community condemned the detention of Samar Badawi and Nassima al-Sadah back in summer 2018.

Badawi and Sadah had campaigned for women to have the right to drive and to end the country's male guardianship system. They were among at least a dozen other women’s rights activists to face prosecution during that time.
In 2012, Badawi received the International Women of Courage Award, which was presented to her by then-first lady Michelle Obama and then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.
Badawi's sister is the writer Raif Badawi, who was publicly lashed and arrested in 2012 for critical blog posts about Saudi clerics.

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Prominent women's rights activists released in Saudi Arabia

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