Four more women’s rights activists have been temporarily freed in Saudi Arabia, bringing the total to seven in two months.
UK-based Saudi rights organisation ALQST said Hatoon Al-Fassi, Amal Al-Harbi, Maysaa al-Manea, and Abeer Namankani were all released, with reports a fifth had also been let out.
They are among 11 women held for about a year on charges related to the country’s cyber-crimes law.
Saudi officials are yet to comment.
The terms of their release and when they will return to jail are unclear.
The government in Riyadh has come under international pressure to free the women who were arrested last year in May shortly before authorities lifted a ban on women driving.
All 11 women were put on trial in March. When they were detained in 2018, the public prosecutor’s office said they were suspected of harming national interests.
They have been accused of contact with foreign journalists and human rights organisations.
Some of the women in court appearances say they have been electrocuted, flogged and sexually harassed in prison, allegations Saudi authorities have denied.
In March 36 states at the UN Human Rights Council jointly condemned Saudi Arabia for the women’s detentions, the first collective rebuke of the Gulf kingdom since the council was set up in 2006.
