"In granting Honorary Citizenship of the City of Paris to Loujain Al Hathloul, we are calling for her release. Paris contributes to alert on her situation as well as that of all women around the world who fight, at times at great risk to their lives, to obtain equal rights and to eradicate the discrimination against women." - Anne Hidalgo, Mayor of Paris
From day one, ALQST campaigned for the immediate and unconditional release of human rights champion Loujain al-Hathloul, who has been unjustly prosecuted, detained and tortured for her courageous work defending human rights and fundamental freedoms in Saudi Arabia. - Yahya Assiri, Director at ALQST for Human Rights
Loujain AlHathloul is one of the world's leading women's rights activists and bearer of the Bertha and Carl Benz Prize of the City of Mannheim. She is a pioneer, a trailblazer in the best sense of the word, who with her fight for the rights of Saudi women stands for the values of Mannheim as a liberal, cosmopolitan city. I very much hope that the international efforts to secure her release from Saudi custody, which we strongly support, will soon be successful. - Mannheim, November 2020, Dr Peter Kurz, Mayor of the City of Mannheim
Loujain AlHathloul has been jailed and mistreated because she refused to sit back and wait for her government to ‘hand down’ reforms for women as a matter of royal prerogative but demanded that it live up to its duty to respect the rights of all citizens. Saudi authorities should immediately release her and others jailed for their peaceful activism. -Ken Roth, Executive Director
Regional Coalition of Women Human Rights Defenders in MENA
It is essential to ensure good international relations that the government of Saudi Arabia comply with the decision of the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention and release Loujain immediately. - Maran Turner, Executive Director
"Loujain Al-Hathloul has challenged one of the world's most notoriously misogynist governments, inspiring the world with her demand to drive, govern her own life, and liberate all Saudi women from a form of medieval bondage that has no place in the 21st century. By standing in solidarity with Loujain Al-Hathloul's fearless words and actions, we send a strong signal that international pressure on the Saudi Kingdom to respect dissent and adhere to international norms of free expression will not relent." - Suzanne Nossel, Chief Executive Officer
Women’s rights defenders should be celebrated and supported by governments, not imprisoned and tortured. - Yasmeen Hassan, Global Executive Director
Loujain al-Hathloul should be released immediately and unconditionally because citizens who advocate peacefully for their rights should never face arrests, defamation campaigns, sham trials, solitary confinement, harassment, torture, or any other forms of retribution. -Stephen McInerney, Executive Director
Loujain Al-Hathloul should be honored, not imprisoned, for her peaceful and legitimate work defending women's rights in Saudi Arabia. -Khalid Ibrahim, Executive Director
Loujain AlHathloul has paid a high price for her struggle for women’s rights in Saudi Arabia; as a political prisoner, she is the embodiment of the irony of a government that claims to empower women. The same Saudi gang that is now bragging about its first female ambassadors has arrested, sexually harassed, tortured, and electrocuted AlHathloul solely because of her activism for women. Loujain AlHathloul is the Saudi people’s ambassador. - Sarah Leah Whitson (Director of DAWN)
ISHR has been advocating for the release of Loujain since her arrest. We continue to lobby States at the UN Human Rights Council to push for her immediate and unconditional release, and accountability for her torture. 40 States from across the world have demanded Saudi Arabia to release Loujain and other women's rights activists. UN experts continue to urge Saudi Arabia to release her because simply, Loujain should never have been arrested in the first place. We won't stop until she is back safely with her family and loved ones. -Salma El Hosseiny, Human Rights Council Manager at the International Service for Human Rights.
Loujain Al-Houthlal has been arbitrarily detained since 2018 for simply campaigning that women would be treated as full citizens in Saudi Arabia. Her activism, alongside that of many others, have shone a light on the gender apartheid and violence against women’s rights activists in the Kingdom. By collating this body of solidarity, we are showing the Saudi regime that we are watching and will never tire until Saudi activists are free. - David Kode, Advocacy and Campaigns Cluster Lead
Loujain is one of the most emblematic contemporary figures of the struggle for human rights in the world. She is a source of inspiration for young people around the world who elect her as the winner of the Freedom Prize 2020. - Jonas Bochet, Director of the International Institute for Human Rights and Peace
We advocate for Loujain's freedom because no one should be on the receiving end of a ruthless state's might for simply advocating for women's fundamental rights. -Mohamed Soltan, President
"Front Line Defenders calls for the immediate and unconditional freedom of Loujain AHathloul and all other Saudi human rights defenders unjustly imprisoned in Saudi Arabia." - Andrew Anderson, Executive Director
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