Fitness instructor, Manahel al-Otaibi was sentenced to 11 years in prison in January 2024

Manahel’s family have not heard from her in last two months and fear for her safety

‘She told us about the torture, sexual harassment, months of solitary confinement, mistreatment, and medical neglect she has faced and that these abuses have mostly happened during periods when she is completely cut off from the outside world’ – Manahel’s sister

‘Saudi authorities claim they have made progress on women's rights but have continued to arbitrarily detain women like Manahel al-Otaibi simply for posting about women’s rights’ - Bissan Fakih

Saudi Arabia’s authorities must immediately reveal the fate and whereabouts of Manahel al-Otaibi, a 30-year-old woman serving an 11-year prison sentence for promoting women’s rights, who has now been forcibly disappeared for nearly two months, Amnesty International said today.

Manahel al-Otaibi’s last phone call to her family was on 15 December 2024. Since then, her family’s repeated attempts to contact prison authorities and the Saudi Arabian Human Rights Commission requesting information about her have gone unanswered. The authorities’ refusal to disclose Manahel al-Otaibi’s whereabouts amounts to enforced disappearance, a crime under international law.

Bissan Fakih, Amnesty International’s Middle East Campaigner, said:

"Fears for Manahel’s safety have grown rapidly over the past two months. The Saudi authorities must immediately reveal Manahel al-Otaibi’s whereabouts, grant her unrestricted access to her family, and quash her unjust conviction.

“Saudi authorities claim they have made progress on women's rights but have continued to arbitrarily detain women like Manahel al-Otaibi simply for posting about women’s rights and wearing what they choose. This hypocrisy is astounding - not only from the Saudi government, but also from public figures and the international community promoting the kingdom’s reform narrative while ignoring the women who are behind bars simply for daring to speak out for their rights.

“Saudi authorities must immediately and unconditionally release Manahel al-Otaibi and all those arbitrarily detained and unjustly convicted solely for exercising their human rights. Pending Manahel al-Otaibi’s release, the authorities must reveal her whereabouts, ensure her safety, well-being and access to adequate healthcare.”

Sentenced to prison in a secret hearing

Manahel al-Otaibi, a fitness instructor, was sentenced to 11 years in prison in a secret hearing before Saudi Arabia’s notorious counter-terrorism court, the Specialised Criminal Court, on 9 January 2024. Her charges relate to calling for an end to Saudi Arabia’s male guardianship system on social media, publishing videos of herself wearing “indecent clothes”, and “going to the shops without wearing an abaya” (a traditional dress).  

Manahel al-Otaibi previously forcibly disappeared for five months between 5 November 2023 and 14 April 2024. She was also held incommunicado for a period of one month in August 2024, during which period she was subject to torture and other ill-treatment. When she was finally able to contact her family again, they learned that she had been beaten by fellow prisoners and prison guards. She also told them she had been held in solitary confinement.  

Manahel al-Otaibi was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis, a chronic neurological disorder which her family said developed after she witnessed the arrest of her older sister, Mariam al-Otaibi. Mariam, a prominent human rights defender and campaigner against the male guardianship system, was detained in 2017 for 104 days for her women’s rights activism and is currently subjected to a travel ban and restrictions on her speech. 

Given the authorities’ previous ill-treatment of Manahel al-Otaibi, there are serious fears for her well-being and physical integrity. Her sister, Fawzia al-Otaibi, said:

“My family is living through a true nightmare, we are terrified about what is happening to Manahel. She told us about the torture, sexual harassment, months of solitary confinement, mistreatment, and medical neglect she has faced and that these abuses have mostly happened during periods when she is completely cut off from the outside world. Every time we lose contact with Manahel, our entire family goes into a state of panic, fearing for her safety. We frantically reach out to everyone we can begging for intervention and help but unfortunately, no government entity inside the country pays us any attention.

“Mariam’s arrest terrorised our entire family. We lived in constant fear, watching as government-affiliated accounts on Twitter ran smear campaigns against us, labelling us as traitors. Manahel was bedridden, her health deteriorating rapidly. Since her imprisonment, her illness has worsened far more than before due to continuous medical neglect and torture.”

Fawzia al-Otaibi faces similar charges to her sister Manahel but fled Saudi Arabia fearing arrest after being summoned for questioning in 2022. 

Amnesty has documented how the Saudi authorities have intensified their crackdown on freedom of expression over the past few years with Saudi courts convicting and handing down lengthy prison terms to dozens of individuals for expressing themselves on social media. These include:

• Abdulrahman al-Sadhan, sentenced to 20 years in prison for satirical tweets
• Mohammed al-Ghamdi, previously given the death penalty but now serving 30 years in prison for tweets critical of the authorities
• Nourah al-Qahtani, a women’s rights activist who was sentenced to 45 years in prison