Hillary
Clinton and Michelle Obama present the 2012 International Women of
Courage Award to Samar Badawi of Saudi Arabia on March 8, 2012, at the
State Department. (Photo: AP)
In
what appears to be latest sign of an intensifying crackdown on
political dissidents, the Saudi government has arrested a prominent
human rights activist who was awarded an “International Woman of Courage
Award” in 2012 from then Secretary of State Clinton.
Samar
Badawi was arrested in Jeddah Tuesday morning and taken, along with her
2-year-old daughter, to a police station for questioning over postings
she made on the Twitter account of her imprisoned husband, a human
rights lawyer, according to a report on her arrest by Amnesty International.
She was then transferred to a local prison and is due to appear before a prosecutor Wednesday.
The arrest, following last week’s executions of 47 prisoners, including a prominent Shiite cleric,
drew an immediate protest from a senior State Department official who
said Badawi appeared to have been imprisoned for exercising her “freedom
of expression.”
“We’re
very concerned about this,” Tom Malinowski, assistant secretary of
state for human rights, told Yahoo News. “We would urge the Saudi
authorities to release her and drop any charges.”
A press spokesman for the Saudi Embassy did not respond to a request for comment.
The
case presents yet another potential dilemma for the Obama
administration, which has tried to walk a fine line between speaking out
against perceived human rights abuses by the Saudis and not alienating
one of the closest U.S. allies in the Middle East.
It
could also create awkward questions for Clinton, whose former assistant
secretary of legislative affairs, David Adams, recently was hired to
lobby for the Saudi government in his new role as a principal of the
Podesta Group (a major D.C. lobbying group headed by Clinton campaign fundraiser Tony Podesta).
The Clinton campaign did not respond to a request for comment, nor did Adams nor Podesta.
When
Clinton gave Badawi the Woman of Courage award in March 2012, the State
Department hailed her as a “powerful voice” for women’s issues in the
country, citing her efforts on behalf of women’s suffrage and
challenging the country’s guardianship system, which prevents women from
working and traveling without a male guardian’s permission.
As part of receiving the award, Badawi came to the U.S. and met with Clinton and first lady Michelle Obama. On Tuesday, U.S.-based Saudi human rights activist Ali al-Ahmed posted a picture of the trio on Twitter and asked, “Will you call for her freedom?”
end quote from:
https://www.yahoo.com/politics/saudis-arrest-activist-who-got-1341938295775286.html
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