On 9 January 2024 Saudi Arabia’s infamous Specialized Criminal Court sentenced Manahel al-Otaibi, a 29-year-old fitness instructor and women’s rights activist, to 11 years in prison for “terrorist offences” in a secret trial. She was arrested on 16 November 2022 and charged with violating the Anti-Cyber Crime Law due to her tweets in support of women’s rights as well as posting photos of herself at the mall without an abaya (a traditional loose-fitting long-sleeved robe) on Snapchat. Saudi authorities forcibly disappeared Manahel al-Otaibi between 5 November 2023 and 14 April 2024. On 14 April 2024 she contacted her family and told them she was being held in solitary confinement in al-Malaz Prison with a broken leg after being brutally beaten in detention, and without access to medical care.
