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Tariq
Al-Mubarak
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Tariq Al-Mubarak has been held in detention
since October 27 for his writings that criticised the government's ban on Saudi
women driving.
Saudi authorities on Sunday arrested a
local columnist, Tariq Al-Mubarak, after he wrote an article
supporting the right of women to drive in the only country in the world that
bans female motorists, activists said.
In his
article in the London-based Arabic newspaper Asharq al-Awsat daily,
Mubarak had criticised what he said were "threats by a small group to use
violence to prevent modernity or a small group within the society from
demanding their rights."
"They jail people within their
extremist thoughts and scare them from living their lives normally," wrote
Mubarak.
Mubarak has been in detention since
October 27 without access to his family or a lawyer, according to news reports.
Media rights groups called for
Mubarak’s immediate release and supported his right to free expression.
"We demand the immediate release
of the journalist Tariq Al-Mubarak who has been arrested for standing up for
the human rights of women in Saudi Arabia," said IFJ President Jim Boumelha. "His arrest
clearly undermines the right to press freedom and freedom of expression and
calls into question the state's attitude towards its citizens' basic human
rights."
The New York-based Committee to Protect
Journalist’s MENA Coordinator Sherif Mansour said: "Tariq
Al-Mubarak is evidently being held in retaliation for writing in support of
women's rights, which is not a crime. Saudi authorities should disclose charges
against Al-Mubarak or release him immediately."
Saudi authorities had warned women of
legal measures if they defy a long-standing driving ban in the
ultra-conservative kingdom.
At least 16 women were stopped by
police on Saturday and were fined and forced along with their male guardians to
pledge to obey the kingdom's laws.
Source: Doha Centre
for Media Freedom
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