BACK AT IT

Saudis Arrest 8 Women’s Rights Activists, Including Two U.S. Citizens

First round of arrests of critics of kingdom’s crown prince since Jamal Khashoggi’s murder.

Saudi Arabia has detained two dual U.S.-Saudi citizens in a new round of arrests apparently targeting women’s rights activists, The Guardian reports. In total, eight people are reported to have been detained and they include some with ties to more prominent activists who have previously been jailed. It’s believed to be the first round of arrests targeting people who are critical of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman since the murder of writer Jamal Khashoggi at the Saudi consulate in Istanbul. The arrested individuals are believed to be writers and advocates who supported social reforms. Most reportedly had ties to a group of women’s rights activists currently on trial. The two U.S.-Saudi nationals have been named as writer and physician Badr al-Ibrahim and Salah al-Haidar, whose mom is the women’s rights activist Aziza al-Yousef. Al-Haidar has a family home in Vienna, Virginia. Nearly all of those detained on Thursday were taken from their homes in the capital, Riyadh.