Samar bint Muhammad Badawi (; born 28 June 1981) is a Saudi Arabian

human rights Human rights are universally recognized Morality, moral principles or Social norm, norms that establish standards of human behavior and are often protected by both Municipal law, national and international laws. These rights are considered ...

activist. She and her father filed court cases against each other in Saudi Arabia. Badawi's father accused her of disobedience under the Saudi Arabian male guardianship system and she charged her father with ''adhl''—"making it hard or impossible for a person, especially a woman, to have what she wants, or what's rightfully hers; e.g, her right to marry" according to Islamic jurisprudence—for refusing to allow her to marry. After Badawi missed several trial dates relating to the charge, an arrest warrant was issued for her, and Badawi was imprisoned on 4 April 2010. In July 2010, Jeddah General Court ruled in Samar Badawi's favor, and she was released on 25 October 2010, and her guardianship was transferred to an uncle. There had been a local and international support campaign for her release. The Saudi NGO Human Rights First Society described Badawi's imprisonment as "outrageous illegal detention". Badawi filed a Grievances Board lawsuit against the Ministry of Municipal and Rural affairs for the rejection of her registration for the 2011 municipal elections. She participated in the 2011–2012 women driving campaign by driving regularly since June 2011 and helping women drivers with police and court procedures. In November 2011, she and

Manal al-Sharif Manal al-Sharif (, ; born 25 April 1979) is a Saudi women's rights activist who helped start a right-to-drive campaign in 2011. Wajeha al-Huwaider filmed al-Sharif driving a car as part of the campaign. The video was posted on YouTube and Face ...

filed charges in the Grievances Board against the Saudi Arabian General Directorate of Traffic for rejecting their applications for drivers' licences. On 8 March 2012, Badawi was given an award by the

United States Department of State The United States Department of State (DOS), or simply the State Department, is an United States federal executive departments, executive department of the U.S. federal government responsible for the country's foreign policy of the United State ...

for her contributions to women's rights. In 2018, she was arrested by the Saudi authorities again. Canada's request for her immediate release sparked a major diplomatic dispute between Canada and Saudi Arabia.

Disobedience and ''adhl'' court cases

Samar Badawi was allegedly physically abused by her father for 15 years. Her mother died prior to October 2010. In March 2008, she escaped to a

women's shelter A women's shelter, also known as a women's refuge and battered women's shelter, is a place of temporary protection and support for women escaping domestic violence and intimate partner violence of all forms. The term is also frequently used to ...

Jeddah Jeddah ( ), alternatively transliterated as Jedda, Jiddah or Jidda ( ; , ), is a List of governorates of Saudi Arabia, governorate and the largest city in Mecca Province, Saudi Arabia, and the country's second largest city after Riyadh, located ...

, the Protection Home. As her male guardian under the male guardianship system, Badawi's father filed a charge of disobedience against her. The Saudi Public Prosecutions and Investigation Bureau dropped the charge. Badawi's father filed another disobedience charge against her in 2009. Badawi missed some court appearances. In June, Judge Abdullah al-'Uthaim issued a warrant for her arrest. In July, she moved from the women's shelter to her brother's home. A non-judicial investigation by the Protection Home stated that "Badawi's father had beaten and verbally abused her, used drugs, had 14 wives, had exhausted his financial resources, had repeatedly changed jobs, and became friendly with a 'bad group of people.'" Badawi wished to marry. Her father refused permission. Badawi then filed an '' adhl'' charge against her father for the refusal to allow her marriage, requesting to remove her father as her guardian. According to

Human Rights Watch Human Rights Watch (HRW) is an international non-governmental organization that conducts research and advocacy on human rights. Headquartered in New York City, the group investigates and reports on issues including War crime, war crimes, crim ...

, Badawi filed the ''adhl'' charge against her father after he had filed the disobedience charge against her. According to ''

Arab News ''Arab News'' is an English-language daily newspaper published in Saudi Arabia. It is published from Riyadh. The target audiences of the paper, which is published in broadsheet format, are businesspeople, executives and diplomats. At least as ...

'', Badawi's father filed the disobedience charge as a "counter-suit after" Badawi had filed the ''adhl'' charge. When she went to court for the ''adhl'' case on 4 April 2010, she was arrested on the basis of the warrant that had been issued for the disobedience charge. Badawi was held in Briman Prison in Jeddah. On 18 July 2010, Khalid bin Faisal Al Saud, governor of

Makkah Province Mecca Province (, ), officially Makkah Province, is one of the 13 provinces of Saudi Arabia. It is the third-largest province by area at and the most populous with a population of 8,557,766 as of 2017, of which 4,041,189 were foreign nationals a ...

, proposed creating a committee to "reconcile father and daughter by making him promise not to use violence against her, to allow her to marry, and not to file spurious lawsuits

hat A hat is a Headgear, head covering which is worn for various reasons, including protection against weather conditions, ceremonial reasons such as university graduation, religious reasons, safety, or as a fashion accessory. Hats which incorpor ...

he could not prove." Also in July 2010, Badawi's father was found guilty in the ''adhl'' case by the Jeddah General Court. In mid-October 2010, the disobedience case against Badawi remained open, and Badawi's father filed an appeal against the result of the ''adhl'' case. On 18 October 2010, the

Supreme Judicial Council of Saudi Arabia Supreme Council of Magistracy of Saudi Arabia () is a seven-eleven member council appointed by the King in the Legal system of Saudi Arabia, legal system of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. It supervises the Legal system of Saudi Arabia, lower courts o ...

told Badawi's lawyer Abu al-Khair that it would investigate the legality of both cases. The Human Rights First Society, a Saudi Arabian human rights NGO, described Badawi's imprisonment as "outrageous illegal detention". Saudi Arabian and international

activists campaigned for Badawi to be released. Badawi gave a petition to the National Society for Human Rights, a government-linked human rights NGO, asking not to be returned to her father and "easing her path to marriage". On 25 October 2010, Badawi was released from prison on the orders of Governor Khalid bin Faisal. An uncle on her father's side became her new male guardian. In September 2014, Badawi attended a discussion session of the

United Nations Human Rights Council The United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) is a United Nations body whose mission is to promote and protect human rights around the world. The Council has 47 members elected for staggered three-year terms on a United Nations Regional Gro ...

in Geneva, in which she talked about the situation of Human Rights advocates in Saudi Arabia.

Women's suffrage

Badawi also took legal action in relation to

women's suffrage Women's suffrage is the women's rights, right of women to Suffrage, vote in elections. Several instances occurred in recent centuries where women were selectively given, then stripped of, the right to vote. In Sweden, conditional women's suffra ...

. She filed a lawsuit in the Grievances Board, a non-

Sharia Sharia, Sharī'ah, Shari'a, or Shariah () is a body of religious law that forms a part of the Islamic tradition based on Islamic holy books, scriptures of Islam, particularly the Quran, Qur'an and hadith. In Islamic terminology ''sharīʿah'' ...

court, against the Ministry of Municipal and Rural affairs, because of the refusal of voter registration centres to register her for the September 2011 Saudi Arabian municipal elections, claiming that there was no law banning women as voters or candidates and that the refusal was illegal. She cited Articles 3 and 24 of the

Arab Charter on Human Rights The Arab Charter on Human Rights (ACHR), adopted by the Council of the League of Arab States on 22 May 2004, affirms the principles contained in the UN Charter, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the International Covenants on Human Righ ...

, which refer to general and election-specific anti-discrimination, respectively. Badawi requested the Grievances Board to suspend the electoral procedures pending the Board's decision and to order the electoral authorities to register her as a voter and as eligible to be a candidate. On 27 April 2011, the Grievances Board accepted to hear her case at a later date. The Board's final decision was that Badawi's case was "premature". According to the

, Badawi was the first person to file a lawsuit for women's suffrage in Saudi Arabia. Badawi also applied to the Municipal Elections Appeal Committee to reverse the refusal of her registration. Her application was refused on the grounds that appeals against registration refusals must take place within three days of the refusal.

2011–2012 women driving campaign

In 2011 and 2012, Badawi participated in the 2011–2012 women driving campaign. Since the main campaign event in June 2011, Badawi drove in Jeddah "every two or three days". She helped other women drivers in their contacts with police and courts. Badawi stated that there is no legal basis for court trials of women on the charge of driving. She described the women's rights situation stating, "We are marginalized in very basic rights. They think that by giving us some political rights, we will be pleased and shut up." On 4 February, following

's November 2011 filing of charges in the Eastern Province Grievances Board against the General Directorate of Traffic for the rejection of her application for a driver's licences, Badawi filed similar charges for the rejection of her own application for a driving licence. Badawi was asked by the Grievance Board of the Ministry of Interior to "follow-up in a week".

International award

On 8 March 2012, Samar Badawi was awarded the 2012 International Women of Courage Award by the

for her filing of the ''adhl'' and voting rights lawsuits, which were seen by the Department of State as pioneering, and for her encouragement of and inspiration to other women.

2014 travel ban

On 16 September 2014, Badawi attended a discussion session of the

in Geneva, on behalf of the organization Americans for Democracy and

human rights in Bahrain Bahrains record on human rights has been described by Human Rights Watch as "dismal", and having "deteriorated sharply in the latter half of 2010". Their subsequent report in 2020 noted that the human rights situation in the country had not impro ...

(ADHRB) and the Bahrain Institute of Rights and Democracy (BIRD) and

Saudi Arabia Saudi Arabia, officially the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), is a country in West Asia. Located in the centre of the Middle East, it covers the bulk of the Arabian Peninsula and has a land area of about , making it the List of Asian countries ...

. Her presentation centered on the situation of human rights advocates in Saudi Arabia, and the detention of her husband activist Waleed Abulkhair. On 18 September 2014, while at the Human Rights Council in Geneva, Badawi met with the High Commissioner of Human Rights, Prince Zeid bin Ra'ad. On 20 September 2014, Badawi flew to the US, where she met US Senators and secretaries of several human rights organizations to discuss the issue of her husband Waleed Abulkhair and other detainees. At that time, Badawi said she received a direct threat from the secretary of the Foreign Minister of Saudi Arabia that she must stop her human rights activities otherwise action would be taken against her. She subsequently returned to Saudi Arabia without incident, other than local authorities taking her passport. On 2 December 2014, Badawi went to

King Abdulaziz International Airport King Abdulaziz International Airport (IATA airport code, IATA: JED, ICAO airport code, ICAO: OEJN, colloquially referred to as Jeddah Airport, Jeddah International Airport, or KAIA), is a major international airport serving the cities of Jedda ...

, to leave Saudi Arabia for a flight to Brussels, Belgium, to participate in the 16th European Union (EU) NGOs Forum on Human Rights. Passport Office staff said the Ministry of Interior issued a travel ban and would not allow her to travel abroad. The EU contacted the Saudi authorities to seek clarification of the reasons for this ban.

January 2016 arrest

In a press release 12 January 2016,

Amnesty International Amnesty International (also referred to as Amnesty or AI) is an international non-governmental organization focused on human rights, with its headquarters in the United Kingdom. The organization says that it has more than ten million members a ...

announced that Samar Badawi had been arrested and taken with her 2-year-old daughter Joud to a police station in

where she was interrogated. Four hours later, Badawi was transferred to

Dhahban Central Prison Dhahban Central Prison (), also known as Dhahban Prison, is a maximum-security prison facility located near Dahaban, Jeddah, in Saudi Arabia. It was built in 2015 as part of a renovation of the Jeddah Prisons infrastructure, at a cost of SR400 mi ...

, the same prison where her brother, Saudi dissident

Raif Badawi Raif bin Muhammad Badawi (, also transcribed Raef bin Mohammed Badawi; born 13 January 1984) is a Saudi writer, dissident and activist, as well as the creator of the website ''Free Saudi Liberals''. Badawi was arrested in 2012 on a charge of ...

is held. On 13 January, ''The Guardian'' quoted "activists" as saying Samar Badawi had been "freed on bail after being arrested and held briefly" at the Dhahban prison. She was said to be home with her daughter, but had been ordered to report to the police in Jeddah early 14 January for further interrogation. Philip Luther, Director of Amnesty International's Middle East and North Africa Program called Badawi's arrest, "...yet another alarming setback to human rights in Saudi Arabia emonstratingthe extreme lengths to which the authorities are prepared to go in their relentless campaign to harass and intimidate human rights defenders into silent submission." Ensaf Haidar, wife of Samar's brother and President of th
Raif Badawi Foundation
confirmed reports of Samar Badawi's arrest via Twitter.

Center for Inquiry The Center for Inquiry (CFI) is a U.S. nonprofit organization that works to mitigate belief in pseudoscience and the paranormal and to fight the influence of religion in government. History The Center for Inquiry was established in 1991 by ...

, an American nonprofit educational organization, called for her immediate release, and asked the

US State Department The United States Department of State (DOS), or simply the State Department, is an executive department of the U.S. federal government responsible for the country's foreign policy and relations. Equivalent to the ministry of foreign affairs o ...

to "bring to bear what diplomatic power they have to press Saudi Arabia to release Samar." A spokesperson for the Saudi Interior Ministry, Maj. Gen. Mansour Turki, denied claims that Badawi had been arrested.

July 2018 arrest

According to

(HRW), Samar Badawi, along with Nassima al-Sadah, were arrested by Saudi authorities on 30 July. She was held in the Dhahban Central Prison. Following criticism and calls for Badawi's release on the part of Canadian Minister of Foreign Affairs

Chrystia Freeland Christina Alexandra Freeland (born August 2, 1968) is a Canadian politician and journalist who has served as the Member of Parliament (Canada), member of Parliament (MP) for University—Rosedale (federal electoral district), University—Rose ...

, Saudi Arabia expelled Canada's ambassador, and froze trade with

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, making it the world's List of coun ...

2021 release

On 27 June 2021, Badawi was released from prison after serving her sentence.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Badawi, Samar 1981 births Amnesty International prisoners of conscience held by Saudi Arabia Living people People of the 2011–2012 Saudi Arabian protests Saudi Arabian women's rights activists Saudi Arabian dissidents Saudi Arabian women Saudi Arabian prisoners and detainees Saudi Arabian women human rights activists Recipients of the International Women of Courage Award