Hatoon al-Fassi

Hatoon al-Fassi ( Arabic هتون أجواد الفاسي, DMG Hatūn Aǧwād al-Fāsī ; * 1964 in Mecca ) is a Saudi Arabian professor of women's history and activist for women's rights .

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Academic career and research

Al-Fassi has been employed at King Saud University since 1989 , most recently as an associate professor of women's history. She is also at the University of Qatar in the Department of International Affairs.

A research focus of al-Fassi is the women's rights in the kingdom of the Nabataeans , a political state during classical antiquity that stretched south along the coast of the Red Sea to the Hejaz as far as Damascus , with Damascus briefly (85-71 BC) was ruled. The kingdom of the Nabataeans controlled much of the region's trade routes and gained great wealth. Nabataea was from the 4th century BC. Independently until AD 106 it was annexed by the Roman Empire and renamed Arabia Petraea . Al-Fassi used the methods of comparative political science to compare women's rights in the kingdom of the Nabataeans with those in Saudi Arabia . Al-Fassi verified the thesis that women in Nabataean society were more independent and their rights were granted to a greater extent than is the case in today's society in Saudi Arabia.

Commitment to women's rights

Al-Fassi took part in campaigns for female candidates for the local elections in 2005 and 2011 and in a similar campaign for the local elections in 2015. She was arrested on June 24, 2018 as part of a coordinated action by the government of Salman ibn Abd al-Aziz against women rights activists.

In November 2018, while she was still in custody, she was honored with the Middle East Studies Association of North America's Peace Prize.

Court hearing on March 15, 2019

On March 15, 2019, al-Fassi and other Saudi Arabian activists had to appear on a court hearing in Riyadh . The unspecified allegation against them related to their human rights work and their contacts with foreign journalists and diplomats. The accused, who were arrested in a wave of arrests that began in May 2018, included Hatoon al-Fassi, activist Loujain al-Hathloul and blogger Eman al-Nafjan , who allegedly took part in campaigns for women’s right to drive.

Journalists and foreign diplomats were denied access to the courtroom and were escorted out of the court. The Saudi public prosecutor's office previously announced that the group was guilty of "coordinated activities to harm the security, stability and social peace of the kingdom". After that first trial, Human Rights Watch , who had heard the indictments of two of the detainees, stated that the allegations were related to their human rights work, including advocating women's rights and ending the male guardianship system in Saudi Arabia. Some of the charges also came under an article of the Kingdom's Cybercrime Act , which provides for prison sentences of up to five years.

The trial attracted international attention, and over thirty states, including the 28 states of the European Union , Canada and Australia, campaigned for the activists to be released.

Columnist

Al-Fassi wrote a column for the Saudi Arabian newspaper ar-Riyad , one of the leading newspapers in Najd .

Work (selection)

• Women in Pre-Islamic Arabia: Nabataea . Archaeopress, Oxford 2007.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b} King Saud University : Dr HATOON Ajwad AL FASSI's CV , WebCite, October 2009, last accessed on August 30, 2020.
2. ↑ International Federation of Human Rights : Saudi Arabia arrests Ms. Hatoon Al Fassi in ongoing crackdown against human rights defenders , July 6, 2018, last accessed August 30, 2020.
3. ↑ Middle East Studies Association: Middle East Scholars Give Academic Freedom Award to Saudi Scholar, Writer, and Women's Rights Advocate, Dr. Hatoon Ajwad Al Fassi , November 17, 2018, last accessed August 30, 2020.
4. ↑ The Guardian : Eleven female Saudi activists appear in Riyadh court , March 27, 2019, last accessed August 30, 2020.