WASHINGTON — Still within the long shadow of the murder of Jamal Khashoggi, Saudi Arabia is under scrutiny for detaining a second Virginia resident – a female activist, electrocuted and beaten in a Saudi prison.
Police arrested Aziza Al-Youssef on May 15, 2018, holding her in a Riyadh prison ever since.
In a letter from Sen. Tim Kaine (D-Va.) and Rep. Gerald E. Connolly (D-Va.) Tuesday, both members of Congress implored Secretary of State Mike Pompeo to intervene in the case.
“We urge you to call for the immediate release of Ms. Al-Youssef and other unjustly detained women’s rights activists in Saudi Arabia,” Kaine and Connolly wrote.
“We look forward to hearing an update on her condition, including her access to legal counsel, as soon as possible.”
The full letter details allegations of torture at the hands of the Saudi government. After decades of outspoken activism, authorities arrested Al-Youssef, 60, with six other women’s rights activists.
“She has since shared with committees from the National Human Rights Commission and the General Prosecution accounts of her torture by electrocution, beatings, and solitary isolation,” Kaine and Connolly said in the letter. “She remains detained without legal representation or referral to trials, and her family has only been able to visit her once a month since the end of August.”
Al-Youssef is an American legal permanent resident, immigrating to the U.S. to study at Richmond’s Virginia Commonwealth University.
The activist is known for campaigns to lift Saudi Arabia’s female driving ban and repeal the country’s male guardianship laws.
Kaine and Connolly sent their letter 154 days after the murder of Virginia-based journalist Jamal Khashoggi.
U.S. intelligence concluded Saudi Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman directed the assassination of Khashoggi inside the Kingdom’s Istanbul consulate.
The heinous killing drew near-universal international condemnation, with Khashoggi’s body never found.
