The Saudi Princesses Sahar and Jawaher have begun a Twitter and media campaign to end their thirteen year house arrest.
In an e-mail to the Sunday Times, the sisters wrote “We slowly watch each other fading into nothingness”. They added their other sisters, Hala and Maha, are facing psychological distress in guarded isolation. They further cited their treatment as human rights abuse over Twitter:
When torture&abuse become a 'private family' matter in #Saudi & #World agrees,none has moral authority to speak about #HumanRights anywhere
— Sahar سحر (@Art_Moqawama) March 11, 2014
Their mother, Alanoud Al Fayez, who lives divorced and in exile in the United Kingdom, has signed her support for her daughter’s release. In an interview with Channel 4 News, she says: “They are really in a terrible state, especially Jawaher and Sahar. She’s telling me, ‘Mummy, we are trying to hold on to our sanity’. They are hanging to life. They don’t deserve what happened to them.” Over Twitter, she continues to write and communicate to her daughters, with words of support:
@AlanoudDAlfayez The only people that failed us is our father&so-called human rights orgs,you my strong amazing mother have always lifted us
— Jawaher جواهر (@Jawaher1776) March 11, 2014
With over 2000 Twitter followers each, the princesses and their mother have attracted both criticism and support. Princess Jawaher tweeted a response to her opponents over the social media platform:
To those racist sectarian enslaved minds who think bullying us into silence about human rights abuses,THINK AGAIN>
— Jawaher جواهر (@Jawaher1776) March 11, 2014
Legal action currently lies at a standstill for Al Fayez and her daughters. In November she told Voice of Russia Radio: “I came to London and hired British and American lawyers to help me. But agents of the Saudi King have bribed them, and the lawyers in fact braked my case and didn’t let it enter the international level. I tried to find other lawyers – but found myself in total isolation. Nobody wanted to defend the interests of my daughters.”
According to the Associated Press, the United Nation’s Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights has received the complaints, but declined to comment whether the U.N. will take any action on the subject.
Image via Channel 4 News, Youtube
