Outspoken Egyptian journalist freed from Saudi jail after nearly one-year incarceration

An outspoken Egyptian journalist and human rights activist, who has been critical of Saudi Arabia’s war on Yemen and Israel’s occupation of Palestine, has been freed from Saudi confinement after nearly a year in jail.

News about Rania al-Assal’s incarceration in Saudi Arabia surfaced after she disappeared last March while on pilgrimage in the holy city of Mecca.

“I was released from Saudi prisons. I was not subjected to any physical or psychological harm,” she said in a Monday post on X social media platform, pledging to continue to fight for her beliefs.

After her disappearance, it became clear that she was arrested by Saudi Arabia’s security forces and moved to an undisclosed location.

Al-Assal’s friends in Egypt and Lebanon later revealed that she had been held incommunicado since February 11, 2023 for an unspecified period of time.

In a number of posts that preceded her arrest, the firebrand Egyptian journalist had questioned Saudi authorities for naming one of the gates of Masjid al-Haram Mosque that surrounds the Kaaba after Saudi monarchs.

“Did anyone from the family of Bani Saud (the kingdom’s ruling family) build the Kaaba, or even participate in the destruction of the idols around it, or even its liberation,” al-Assal asked in a post on X.

She openly criticized the kingdom and its ally the United Arab Emirates for their military onslaught against Yemen that killed tens of thousands of Yemenis.

Al-Assal also denounced the apartheid Israeli regime’s occupation of Palestine.

“Yes, the Emirates and Saudi Arabia did not fight Yemen and Israel did not occupy Palestine. Sure, the problem is with us as we see fantasies,” read one of her X posts in a sarcastic tone.