Bríd Smith (Dublin South Central, People Before Profit Alliance) | Oireachtas source

Some 31 Deputies and Senators signed an open letter on this matter to the Minister and he responded by sending officials from his Department to the Saudi ambassador. We have to ratchet up our response because Saudi Arabia has certainly raised the bar. Yesterday, Ms al-Hathloul was transferred and she had one day's notice that she was to appear in court after 1,000 days of illegal detention. Her family said they were shocked when they saw her in court. She was shaking uncontrollably and she was very weak. She has been on hunger strike to protest physical and sexual abuse and torture in prison. She is not the only feminist in prison in Saudi Arabia. Saudi Arabia is charging her with crimes that it claims involve espionage and agency work. Espionage and agency work do not get posted on social media to encourage women to fight for their rights. The Minister needs to ratchet it up and call in the ambassador himself, rather than sending officials. I ask him to please call him in and intervene directly and correctly in this issue.

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