Activist Loujain al-Hathloul is far from free in MBS's reformed Saudi Arabia

July 23, 2022

Human Rights in Saudi Arabia Under MBS | GZERO World

In 2014, Loujain al Hathloul did the unthinkable: attempt to drive into Saudi Arabia, the last country in the world with a driving ban for women.

That changed four years later after Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, aka MBS, removed the restriction on women, she explains on GZERO World.

But just six weeks before the ban was lifted there, she was arrested in the UAE and flown to Riyadh against her will. Loujain later spent more than 1,000 days behind bars for her activism defending women's rights.

Meanwhile, US President Joe Biden's recent trip to Saudi Arabia has angered human rights groups like DAWN, founded by Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi before he was murdered in a hit the CIA says was ordered by MBS.

Watch the GZERO World episode: Saudi Arabia’s repressive power politics

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Israel approved the Gaza ceasefire deal on Friday morning, bringing the ceasefire officially into effect. The Israeli military must withdraw its forces to an agreed perimeter inside Gaza within 24 hours, and Hamas has 72 hours to return the hostages.

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After two years of war in Gaza, a ceasefire and peace deal may finally be within reach, and Ian Bremmer says former President Trump deserves credit for.

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China has implemented broad new restrictions on exports of rare earth and other critical minerals vital for semiconductors, the auto industry, and military technology, of which it controls 70% of the global supply.