Samar Badawi
Samar Badawi is a Saudi human rights activist. Her father reported her to the authorities for disobedience, and she was held for months in 2010 until the case was settled. She was honoured with the US International Women of Courage Award in 2012, was banned from travel in 2014, and was arrested again in 2016. She had campaigned for women's right to drive and against the male guardianship system, and for the release of her brother, the blogger Raif Badawi, and of her former husband, the lawyer Waleed Abulkhair.
On 30 July 2018 she was arrested again, together with the activist Nassima al-Sadah, weeks after the driving ban was lifted. Canada's foreign minister called publicly for her release, and Saudi Arabia expelled the Canadian ambassador and froze trade. She was released on 27 June 2021 after serving her sentence.
The Charge
The charge in 2010 was disobedience to her father, a so called adhl case, in which a guardian can have a woman held. The 2018 arrest was linked to her activism, and no charges were made public at the time.
The Case For
Amnesty International and other rights groups said she was jailed for peaceful work. A woman who is imprisoned for disobedience to her own father is the guardianship system working as designed. The driving ban she campaigned against was lifted in 2018, and the system she challenged has been loosened since, so supporters argue history is moving her way.
The Case Against
The Saudi government has said such cases are handled under Saudi law, and treats activism it sees as foreign backed as a threat to national security. Defenders of the old guardianship system say that it reflects religious and family norms and that reform should come from within. Her father's complaint was lawful under the rules of the time.
Where Do You Stand?
If the law she was punished under has since been loosened, was she a criminal who broke it, or the person who made it change? Does a country have the right to treat as a crime what the rest of the world calls a human right?
Where do you stand?