IV 
117TH CONGRESS 
2D SESSION 
H. RES. 1444 
Condemning the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia’s inhumane treatment of Salma 
al-Shehab and other women’s rights defenders. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
OCTOBER 21, 2022 
Ms. SPEIER (for herself and Ms. LOIS FRANKEL of Florida) submitted the 
following resolution; which was referred to the Committee on Foreign Affairs 
RESOLUTION 
Condemning the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia’s inhumane treat-
ment of Salma al-Shehab and other women’s rights de-
fenders. 
Whereas, on January 15, 2018, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia 
arrested Salma al-Shehab under suspicion of terrorism 
for ‘‘assisting those who seek to cause public unrest and 
destabilize civil and national security by following their 
twitter accounts’’; 
Whereas these charges cited statements made on Twitter in 
which al-Shehab supported women’s rights defenders who 
had been detained for protesting the Kingdom’s guard-
ianship system; 
Whereas al-Shehab was detained without trial for over 9 
months and initially sentenced to 6 years in prison by the 
Specialized Criminal Court; 
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•HRES 1444 IH 
Whereas, on or around August 9, 2022, the Specialized 
Criminal Court resentenced al-Shehab to 34 years in 
prison and a nonconcurrent 34-year travel ban; 
Whereas the Specialized Criminal Court’s sentence is the 
longest punishment known of a peaceful women’s rights 
activist in the Kingdom; 
Whereas al-Shehab has been subjected to solitary confine-
ment, prolonged interrogation, abuse, harassment, and 
given medications which caused drowsiness; 
Whereas, on August 29, 2022, 35 nongovernmental organiza-
tions, including Freedom House, condemned al-Shehab’s 
arrest and sentencing as arbitrary and unlawful, and 
characterized her sentence as ‘‘an alarming deterioration 
of the human rights situation in the country’’; 
Whereas, on August 29, 2022, the same nongovernmental or-
ganizations warned that activists and human rights de-
fenders continue to be ‘‘ruthlessly targeted and silenced, 
with repressive laws being used to criminalize their peace-
ful expression and activism’’; 
Whereas, in May 2018, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia ar-
rested 12 women’s rights defenders including, Loujain al- 
Hathloul, Aziza al-Yousef, Eman al-Nafjan, Nouf 
Abdelaziz, Mayaa al-Zahrani, Samar Badawi, Nassima 
al-Saada, and Hatoon al-Fassi; 
Whereas Human Rights Watch reported that at least 3 of the 
detained activists were subjected to torture, including 
electrical shocks, whipping, and sexual assault; 
Whereas while Loujain al-Hathloul was released from prison 
in February 2021, the ongoing travel ban and threat of 
the suspended sentence prevents her freedom of expres-
sion as she could be reimprisoned at any time; 
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•HRES 1444 IH 
Whereas the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia targets human rights 
defenders under severe terrorism and cybercrime laws 
and they are routinely subject to arbitrary arrests and 
unlawful detentions; 
Whereas the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia fails to investigate 
and reform the penal system which allows for the afore-
mentioned torture and mistreatment of human right de-
fenders like Salma al-Shehab; and 
Whereas the United States supports the freedom of speech 
and expression, right to fair and open judicial pro-
ceedings, and humane treatment of prisoners globally: 
Now, therefore, be it 
Resolved, That the House of Representatives— 
(1) denounces the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia’s 
guardianship system and the arbitrary arrests, un-
lawful sentences, and inhumane treatments of Salma 
al-Shehab and other human rights defenders; 
(2) denounces the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia’s 
draconian use of travel bans and suspended sen-
tences to silence human rights defenders, journalists, 
activists, and others; 
(3) urges the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia to im-
mediately release Salma al-Shehab and other un-
justly detained human rights defenders; and 
(4) urges the President to direct the Depart-
ment of State to leverage diplomatic pressure on the 
Kingdom of Saudi Arabia to release Salma al- 
Shehab and other human rights defenders and dis-
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