Eman Al-Nafjan
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Eman al-Nafjan is a
Saudi Arabian Saudis ( ar, سعوديون, Suʿūdiyyūn) are people identified with the country of Saudi Arabia. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. The Saudis are composed mainly of Arabs and primarily speak a regional dialect ...
blog A blog (a truncation of "weblog") is a discussion or informational website published on the World Wide Web consisting of discrete, often informal diary-style text entries (posts). Posts are typically displayed in reverse chronological order ...
ger and
women's rights activist Women's rights are the rights and entitlements claimed for women and girls worldwide. They formed the basis for the women's rights movement in the 19th century and the feminist movements during the 20th and 21st centuries. In some countries, ...
. She was detained by Saudi authorities in May 2018 along with
Loujain al-Hathloul Loujain al-Hathloul ( ar, لجين الهذلول ''Lujjayn al-Hadhlūl''; born 31 July 1989) is a Saudi women's rights activist, a social media figure, and political prisoner. She is a graduate of the University of British Columbia. Al-Hathloul ...
and five other women's rights activists in what
Human Rights Watch Human Rights Watch (HRW) is an international non-governmental organization, headquartered in New York City, that conducts research and advocacy on human rights. The group pressures governments, policy makers, companies, and individual human r ...
interpreted as an attempt to frighten her and the other activists, during the
2018–2019 Saudi crackdown on feminists The 2018–2019 Saudi crackdown on feminists consisted of waves of arrests of women's rights activists in Saudi Arabia involved in the women to drive movement and the Saudi anti male-guardianship campaign and of their supporters during 2018 and 2019 ...
. On 14 March 2019,
PEN America PEN America (formerly PEN American Center), founded in 1922 and headquartered in New York City, is a nonprofit organization that works to defend and celebrate free expression in the United States and worldwide through the advancement of litera ...
announced that Nouf Abdulaziz,
Loujain Al-Hathloul Loujain al-Hathloul ( ar, لجين الهذلول ''Lujjayn al-Hadhlūl''; born 31 July 1989) is a Saudi women's rights activist, a social media figure, and political prisoner. She is a graduate of the University of British Columbia. Al-Hathloul ...
, and Eman Al-Nafjan would receive the 2019 PEN America/Barbey Freedom to Write Award, which was presented on 21 May at the 2019 PEN America Literary Gala at the American Museum of Natural History in New York City. In late March 2019, the women presented their defence and described physical and sexual abuse they had endured in captivity. Eman al-Nafjan, together with
Aziza al-Yousef Aziza al-Yousef is a Saudi Arabian women's rights activist and academic. She was detained by Saudi authorities in May 2018 along with Loujain al-Hathloul and five others. As of November, 2018, she was apparently being held in the Dhahban Centr ...
and Dr Rokaya Mohareb were released on bail. In September 2019, al-Nafjan received "The Prize for Courage", awarded by
Reporters Without Borders Reporters Without Borders (RWB; french: Reporters sans frontières; RSF) is an international non-profit and non-governmental organization with the stated aim of safeguarding the right to freedom of information. It describes its advocacy as found ...
. She remained barred to travel out of Saudi Arabia, and hence could not collect her award.


Childhood and education

Al-Nafjan was born in
Saudi Arabia Saudi Arabia, officially the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), is a country in Western Asia. It covers the bulk of the Arabian Peninsula, and has a land area of about , making it the fifth-largest country in Asia, the second-largest in the A ...
, the daughter of a Saudi military officer. She earned a bachelor's degree in English at what at the time was the
University of Riyadh King Saud University (KSU, ar, جامعة الملك سعود) is a public university in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Established in 1957 by King Saud bin Abdulaziz to address the country's skilled worker shortage, it is the first university in the ...
(KSU). She worked as a school teacher and later a university teaching assistant. She earned a master's degree in
Teaching English as a foreign language Teaching English as a second language (TESL) or Teaching English to speakers of other languages (TESOL) are terms that refer to teaching English to students whose first language is not English. The terms TESL, TEFL, and TESOL distinguish betwee ...
from the
University of Birmingham , mottoeng = Through efforts to heights , established = 1825 – Birmingham School of Medicine and Surgery1836 – Birmingham Royal School of Medicine and Surgery1843 – Queen's College1875 – Mason Science College1898 – Mason Univers ...
in the United Kingdom. Al-Nafjan taught
pre-medical Pre-medical (often referred to as pre-med) is an educational track that undergraduate students in the United States pursue prior to becoming medical students. It involves activities that prepare a student for medical school, such as pre-med course ...
English at KSU. She encouraged students to discuss their opinions freely and write about them, which a student at the time, Omaima al-Najjar, described as "unheard of in Saudi schools, where we were not allowed to have an opinion or even question the teacher on any matter that involved religion, culture or politics". Al-Nafjan openly stated her strong opinions in favour of women's rights at the time. In 2013, al-Nafjan was conducting research aiming to obtain a PhD in
linguistics Linguistics is the scientific study of human language. It is called a scientific study because it entails a comprehensive, systematic, objective, and precise analysis of all aspects of language, particularly its nature and structure. Linguis ...
at KSU.


Blogging and activism

In February 2008, al-Nafjan began
blog A blog (a truncation of "weblog") is a discussion or informational website published on the World Wide Web consisting of discrete, often informal diary-style text entries (posts). Posts are typically displayed in reverse chronological order ...
ging as 'Saudiwoman', writing about Saudi social and cultural issues with a focus on women. Her blog became one of the most popular Saudi blogs read internationally. Al-Nafjan blogged about topics that were taboo in Saudi Arabia at the time, including criticising male-guardianship as an "abuse system", opposing child marriage and interventions by the religious police, and documenting
internet surveillance Computer and network surveillance is the monitoring of computer activity and data stored locally on a computer or data being transferred over computer networks such as the Internet. This monitoring is often carried out covertly and may be comple ...
by Saudi authorities. On 17 June 2011, she drove a car in Riyadh as part of a women's driving campaign during the 2011 Saudi Arabian protests. She began publishing articles in Western media about the campaign to allow women to drive in Saudi Arabia. In October 2013, al-Nafjan was arrested while filming a woman driving. In September 2016, al-Nafjan signed a petition as part of the
campaign Campaign or The Campaign may refer to: Types of campaigns * Campaign, in agriculture, the period during which sugar beets are harvested and processed *Advertising campaign, a series of advertisement messages that share a single idea and theme * Bl ...
against the Saudi male guardianship system. Al-Nafjan was highly active in supporting other activists in the women to drive campaign and in contributing to public debate on the issue.


Detention

Around 15–18 May 2018, al-Nafjan was detained by Saudi authorities, along with
Loujain al-Hathloul Loujain al-Hathloul ( ar, لجين الهذلول ''Lujjayn al-Hadhlūl''; born 31 July 1989) is a Saudi women's rights activist, a social media figure, and political prisoner. She is a graduate of the University of British Columbia. Al-Hathloul ...
,
Aziza al-Yousef Aziza al-Yousef is a Saudi Arabian women's rights activist and academic. She was detained by Saudi authorities in May 2018 along with Loujain al-Hathloul and five others. As of November, 2018, she was apparently being held in the Dhahban Centr ...
, Aisha al-Mana,
Madeha al-Ajroush Madeha al-Ajroush is a Saudi Arabian women's rights activist, psychologist and photographer. She was detained by Saudi authorities in May 2018 along with Loujain al-Hathloul and five others. Women's rights activism In 1990, al-Ajroush took p ...
and two men involved in women's rights campaigning.
Human Rights Watch Human Rights Watch (HRW) is an international non-governmental organization, headquartered in New York City, that conducts research and advocacy on human rights. The group pressures governments, policy makers, companies, and individual human r ...
interpreted the purpose of the arrests as frightening "anyone expressing skepticism about the crown prince's rights agenda". Saudi authorities accused the arrested activists of having "suspicious contact with foreign parties", providing financial support to "hostile elements abroad" and recruiting government workers. In November, 2018, she was apparently being held in the
Dhahban Central Prison Dhahban Central Prison ( ar, سجن المباحث العامة بذهبان), 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 ...
. According to
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 it has more than ten million members and sup ...
, the detained women's rights activists including al-Nafjan were subjected to torture and abuse. In March 2019, al-Nafjan was released on bail along with some of the other crackdown detainees.


References


External links


Saudiwoman
blog *
Article archive
at ''
The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...
''
Article archive
at RelativityOnline.com {{DEFAULTSORT:Nafjan, Eman Living people Saudi Arabian women bloggers People from Riyadh Alumni of the University of Birmingham Saudi Arabian bloggers Year of birth missing (living people) People of the 2011–2012 Saudi Arabian protests Saudi Arabian dissidents Saudi Arabian feminists Women's rights in Saudi Arabia Saudi Arabian women's rights activists Women human rights activists