First female human rights activist to face capital punishment

Israa al-Ghomgham, a Shia activist arrested with her husband in 2015, will be tried in the country’s terrorism tribunal even though charges she faces relate to peaceful activism. Together with her husband, Moussa al-Hashem, and three other defendants, Ghomgham faces charges that “do not resemble recognisable crimes”, Human Rights Watch, said.

They include participating in protests, chanting slogans hostile to the regime, attempting to inflame public opinion and filming protests and publishing on social media.

The activist is next due in court on 28 October, and the trial will cast a further shadow on crown prince Mohammed bin Salman’s efforts to promote himself as a modernising reformer.

The kingdom’s youngest ruler in the modern era, the 32-year-old power behind the throne has pledged to rein in religious extremists, diversify a moribund, oil-dependent economy, and liberalise a deeply conservative social order.