Hathloul was announced on Monday as the winner of the Vaclav Havel Human Rights Prize in recognition of her fight for women’s rights in Saudi Arabia, including her efforts to end a ban on women’s driving.

Named after the former Czech dissident and later president, the prize is awarded annually for civil society action in defense of human rights by the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE).

Hathloul, 31, “is one of the leaders of the Saudi feminist movement, having campaigned to end the male guardianship system, as well as the Saudi ban on women driving, and for greater protection for women facing abuse in the Kingdom,” PACE said in a statement.

She was arrested in May 2018 with about a dozen other Saudi female activists. Her family said the activist experienced torture and sexual harassment in detention.

Last December, a court handed Hathloul a prison term of five years and eight months on alleged charges of terrorism-related crimes, but a partially suspended sentence and time already served led to her early release in February.

However, she is barred from leaving Saudi Arabia and remains on probation, meaning she cannot return to activism or speak her mind without risking re-arrest.

Hathloul was unable to appear via video conference at the award-winning ceremony organized by PACE, but her sister Lina, who lives in Brussels, intervened on her behalf.

“International support is the only way we can expose the injustices in my country and protect the victims,” Lina said as she accepted the prize and its 60,000 euros ($72,000) at a virtual ceremony.

“For years now, the Saudi regime has been trying to tarnish her image, to erase any support for her, and to make her forgotten. But the more time passes, the more Loujain proves to the world how incredibly brave, resilient and attached to her values she is,” she added.

Saudi Arabia overturned the world’s only ban on female motorists on June 24, 2018. However, paradoxically enough, the lifting of the prohibition was followed by a sweeping crackdown on prominent women’s rights activists, who had staunchly advocated for the right to drive.

Saudi authorities have arrested dozens of activists, bloggers, intellectuals and others perceived as political opponents ever since Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman became the kingdom’s de facto leader in 2017, showing almost zero tolerance for dissent even in the face of international condemnations of the crackdown.

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Through the plan, some 11,700 applicants undergone talent assessment; and 15,300 women also received business management counseling. While 14,400 women also received the necessary training to start a business.

Moreover, job opportunities were created, revived, and stabilized for 5,300 women breadwinners.

Among the products of women heads of households, 72 brands were created. And, 1,800 virtual stores were set up.

In Iran, there are 3 million women-headed households (WHH), out of a total of 22 million families, and most of the WHH can be found in less developed areas of the country, according to the UNDP office in Iran.

“At least 2700 women-focused NGOs are active in Iran and we have plans for the empowerment of civil society activities, we have successfully implemented schemes like enhancing social resiliency, also the economic empowerment of thousands of women heads of the household through micro-credit Funds and Cooperatives,” Masoumeh Ebtekar, the vice president for women’s and family affairs, said in October 2020.

Budget for women breadwinners up 50%

The budget for women and family affairs in the national budget bill for the current calendar year (starting on March 20), is equivalent to 37 trillion rials (nearly $880 million at the official rate of 42,000 rials).

Female-headed households’ share of the national budget accounts for 23 percent of the total credits for women and the family.

Supporting women heads of households in the form of insurance, services, and social support is another important issue, which accounts for 25 percent of the budget, which has grown by about 50 percent.

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A recent report, Breaking the Silence: Bahraini Women Political Prisoners Expose Systemic Abuses, outlines the cases of nine former and current female prisoners in Bahrain throughout the process of their arrests and trials, as well as the conditions of their detentions, Al Jazeera reported.

The report was formally launched last month, and was the subject of a Washington, DC, event on Capitol Hill on Tuesday.

The report, conducted by the London-based Bahrain Institute for Rights and Democracy (BIRD) and Americans for Democracy & Human Rights in Bahrain (ADHRB) found that the women were arrested without search warrants and were subjected to physical, psychological and sexual assaults during interrogation. Coerced confessions were used as evidence to convict them.

The 138-page report found that six of the women were convicted under terrorism-related charges. Bridget Quitter, Legal Officer at ADHRB said the women were targeted as part of a concerted state effort to crack down on free speech.

“These women were targeted for their opinions or those of their relatives,” Quitter said during the panel event in Washington, DC.

“And they were subjected to rights violations from the moment of their arrest, through their interrogation and torture, unfair trials and detention in conditions which fail to meet international standards,” Quitter said.

Of the nine women, three – Hajer Mansoor, Medina Alia and Zakeya AlBarboori – are still detained in Isa Town women’s prison, where, according to the report, they continue to be subjected to punitive measures, including lack of access to medical care. The other six women have been released after serving prison sentences.

The rights groups called on Al-Khalifa arresting female activists to release the three remaining female prisoners and urged the US to halt arms sales and security cooperation with the regime.

“The responses we obtained demonstrated that Bahrain has created a system which whitewashes and conceals human rights abuses,” Quitter said.

“The ill-treatment and torture, coercive interrogation tactics, unfair trial, substandard conditions of detention are not merely coincidental, but part of a systematic repression of the Bahraini population.”

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