Human Rights Watch says for the first time, prosecutors in Saudi Arabia are seeking the death penalty against a female human rights activist.
Israa al-Ghomgham, 29, and her husband were arrested with three others during a 2015 raid. They were calling for an end to discrimination against the Shiite Muslim minority in Saudi Arabia, and have since been charged with "attempting to inflame public opinion" and "filming protests and publishing on social media."
Rothna Begum, a senior women's rights researcher at Human Rights Watch, told CBS News that women have been executed for murder and adultery, but usually when female activists are arrested, they are released after a male guardian picks them up and signs a pledge promising she won't be detained again. "Saudi authorities have realized that women can and do undertake activism," Begum said.
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Saudi Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman has been looked at as a reformer, but Human Rights Watch is worried that activists, both men and women, are being treated more harshly than they used to be, and many women who worked to get the right to drive in the conservative kingdom have been called traitors by state media.
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