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The Saudi human rights activist Nassima al-Sadah before her arrest in 2015
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STR / AFP
After almost three years in prison, two women's rights activists have been released from prison in Saudi Arabia.
As the human rights organization ALQST announced on Twitter on Sunday, Samar Badawi and Nassima al-Sadah were released because they had served their sentences.
The Saudi Arabian authorities did not initially confirm the releases.
The Middle East and North Africa expert of the human rights organization Human Rights Watch, Adam Coogle, called for compensation for Badawi and al-Sadah for their "arbitrary detention".
"You shouldn't have been arrested in the first place," he wrote on Twitter.
Amnesty International called on Saudi Arabian King Salman to lift travel bans on Badawi, al-Sadah and other released activists.
Badawi and al-Sadah were arrested along with around a dozen other women's rights activists in the summer of 2018.
Some of the women have since been released, including the well-known activist Ludschain al-Hathlul.
However, she is still on probation and is not allowed to leave the country for five years.
Women's rights in Saudi Arabia have been reluctantly expanded in recent years.
Women have been able to drive cars since 2018, and since August 2020 they have been able to obtain a passport and travel abroad without first obtaining the permission of their husband, father or other male relative.
mjm / AFP