APPEALS TO:

Crown Prince and Minister of the Interior

His Royal Highness Prince Mohammed bin Naif bin Abdul Aziz Al Saud

Ministry of the Interior

P.O.Box 2933,

Airport Road,

Riyadh 11134

Kingdom of Saudi Arabia

Fax: +966 1 403 3125

Minister of Justice

Muhammad bin Abdul Karim Issa

Ministry of Justice

University Street,

Riyadh 11137

Kingdom of Saudi Arabia

Ambassador Tom MacDonald

Embassy of Canada

P.O. Box 94321

Riyadh, 11693,

Kingdom of Saudi Arabia

Fax: +966 11 482 5670

*Please contact this office if sending appeals after 12 July 2013**

Please copy appeals to the diplomatic representative for Saudi Arabia in your country if possible.

Background

On 15 June 2013 writer and activist Wajeha al-Huwaider and activist Fawzia al-Oyouni were each sentenced to 10 months in prison and two-year travel bans for helping an allegedly abused woman in distress. The case dates back to 6 June 2011, when the pair were contacted by a Canadian woman, Nathalie Morin, who had been locked in her home in the city of Dammam with her three young children by her Saudi husband without sufficient provisions. Wajeha al-Huwaider and Fawzia al-Oyouni arrived with food and water, and were immediately arrested. They were initially charged with kidnapping because Morin’s husband alleged they intended to take Morin and the children to the Canadian Embassy in Riyadh.

Al-Huwaider and Al-Oyouni were released on 7 June 2011, and believed the charges had been dropped. However, over a year later, in July 2012, they were called in for questioning about the Women2Drive campaign, a campaign for Saudi women to be allowed to drive which both Al-Huwaider and al-Oyouni have pioneered. Following their summons they were informed that charges against them in the Morin case would be referred to court. The trial began in December 2012, and on 15 June 2013 they were found not guilty of kidnapping, but convicted of ‘Takhbib’ – inciting a woman against her husband. Al-Huwaider and al-Oyouni are appealing their convictions. Their appeal will be heard on 12 July 2013. Their convictions come as Saudi Arabia has stepped up arrests and trials of peaceful dissidents. On 24 June 2013 seven government critics were sentenced to prison terms of five to 10 ten years for allegedly inciting protests and harming public order by posting messages online, mainly on Facebook.

Leading writer and journalist Wajeha Al-Huwaider has been subjected to harassment since May 2003, when she was first banned from publishing. She continues to publish on-line and overseas, and also writes poetry and short stories. In 2004 her case was taken up by PEN International and featured in its campaign for International Women’s Day. In November 2004 she was awarded the PEN/NOVIB Free Expression award at the Hague. She is an honorary member of English and Melbourne PEN. For further background see a recent article in The Washington Post

To read some of Al-Huwaider’s writings, please click here

To read her article ‘Saudi Women Can Drive. Just Let Them’ (published in the Washington Post on 16 August 2009) please click here.

For further information please contact Cathy McCann at International PEN Writers in Prison Committee, Brownlow House, 50/51 High Holborn, London WC1V 6ER, Tel.+ 44 (0) 20 7405 0338, Fax: +44 (0) 20 7405 0339, email: cathy.mccann [at] pen-international [dot] org 

Cathy McCann/ Researcher / PEN International

Brownlow House

50-51 High Holborn

London WC1V 6ER.

t. +44 (0)20 7405 0338 | f. +44 (0)20 7405 0339 | e.

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