Saudi Arabia has detained seven women’s rights campaigners, accusing them of working with “foreign entities”, weeks before the kingdom lifts a ban on female drivers.

Activists said all of those arrested by state security had worked in some capacity on women’s rights issues, with five of them among the most prominent and outspoken campaigners in the country.

Pro-government media outlets splashed their photos online and in newspapers, accusing them of being traitors.

We’ll tell you what’s true. You can form your own view. From 15p €0.18 $0.18 USD 0.27 a day, more exclusives, analysis and extras.

The campaigners have persistently demanded women should be allowed to drive but stressed the right, which will come into force next month, was only the first step towards equality.

For years, they have also called for an end to less visible forms of discrimination, such as guardianship laws that give male relatives the final say on whether a woman can travel abroad, obtain a passport or marry.

The feminist movement is seen as part of a larger democratic and civil rights push in the kingdom, which remains an absolute monarchy where protests are illegal and all major decision-making rests with the king and his son, Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman.

Some state-linked media outlets published the names of those detained, which include Loujain al-Hathloul, Aziza al-Yousef, and Eman al-Najfan.

Rights activists, who spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of repercussions, said Madeha al-Ajroush and Aisha al-Manae were also among the seven detained.

Both took part in the first women’s protest movement for the right to drive in 1990, when 50 women were arrested for driving and lost their passports and their jobs.

Several of the women detained this week were professors at state-run universities and are mothers or grandmothers.

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The interior ministry did not name those arrested, but said the group was being investigated for communicating with “foreign entities”, working to recruit people in sensitive government positions and providing money to foreign circles with the aim of destabilising and harming the kingdom.

The arrests come just six weeks before Saudi Arabia is due to lift the world’s only ban on women driving.

When the kingdom issued its royal decree last year announcing that women would be allowed to drive in 2018, rights activists were contacted by the royal court and warned against giving interviews to the media or speaking out on social media.

Following the warnings, some women left the country for a period of time and others stopped voicing their opinions on Twitter.

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This is to coincide with his state of the nation address in Manila. AFP/Getty

As activists were pressured into silence, Saudi Arabia’s 32-year-old heir to the throne stepped forth, positioning himself as the force behind the kingdom’s reforms.

According to Human Rights Watch, however, the prince’s so-called reform campaign “has been a frenzy of fear for genuine Saudi reformers who dare to advocate publicly for human rights or women’s empowerment”.

“The message is clear that anyone expressing scepticism about the crown prince’s rights agenda faces time in jail,” said Sarah Leah Whitson, Middle East director at Human Rights Watch.

Last year, Prince Mohammad oversaw the arrests of dozens of writers, intellectuals and moderate clerics who were perceived as critics of his foreign policies.

He also led an unprecedented shakedown of top princes and businessmen, who were forced to hand over significant portions of their wealth in exchange for their freedom as part of a purported anti-corruption campaign.

In an interview with CBS in March, he said he was “absolutely” sending a message through these arrests that there was “a new sheriff in town”.

Activists said writer Mohammad al-Rabea and lawyer Ibrahim al-Mudaimigh, two men who worked to support women’s rights campaigners, were also among the seven detained.

Mr Mudaimigh defended Ms Hathloul in court when she was detained in late 2014 for more than 70 days for her online criticism of the government and for attempting to bring attention to the driving ban by driving from neighbouring United Arab Emirates into Saudi Arabia.

Those familiar with the arrests say Ms Hathloul was forcibly taken by security forces earlier this year from the UAE, where she was residing, to the kingdom.

Activists said several women’s rights campaigners had also been banned from travelling abroad in recent weeks.

Immediately after news of the arrests broke, pro-government Twitter accounts were branding the activists treasonous under an Arabic hashtag, describing them as traitors for foreign embassies.

The pro-government SaudiNews50 Twitter account, which has 11.5 million followers, splashed images of those arrested with red stamps reading “traitor” over their face. The account said “history spits in the face of the country’s traitors”.

The state-linked Al-Jazirah newspaper published on its front page a photo of Ms Hathloul and Ms Yousef under a headline describing them as citizens who betrayed the nation.</s>DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — Saudi authorities have detained at least six activists, including three of the country’s most prominent women’s rights campaigners, just weeks before the kingdom is set to lift a ban on women driving, people familiar with the arrests said Friday.

The Associated Press spoke with two people in touch with the detainees’ relatives. One activist, who spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of repercussion, said five were arrested on Tuesday and the sixth person was detained on Thursday. Several more are feared to be detained and others have been banned from traveling abroad by the government.

The government has not commented on the arrests and government spokespeople did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The crackdown on prominent activists comes just six weeks before Saudi Arabia is set to lift the world’s only ban on women driving on June 24. It is seen as a significant step toward greater women’s rights in the kingdom.

Among those detained since Tuesday is Loujain al-Hathloul, who was arrested in late 2014 and held for more than 70 days for criticizing the government online and pushing for the right to drive.

Others arrested include Eman al-Nafjan and Aziza al-Yousef, two of the most well-known women’s rights activists in the kingdom who for years had campaigned for the right to drive and were involved in human rights issues in the kingdom. Al-Nafjan and al-Yousef have both taught at state-run universities and are mothers, with al-Yousef also a grandmother.

The three women had also called for an end to other less visible forms of discrimination in Saudi Arabia, such as guardianship laws that give male relatives final say on whether a woman can travel abroad, obtain a passport or marry.

When the kingdom issued its stunning royal decree last year announcing that women would be allowed to drive in 2018, women like al-Nafjan and al-Yousef were contacted by the royal court and warned against giving interviews to the media or speaking out on social media.

Following the warnings, some women left the country for a period of time and others stopped voicing their opinions on Twitter.

Activists say it’s not clear why the group of six, including four women and two men, have been arrested now. Among the men detained is lawyer Ibrahim al-Mudimigh, who previously defended al-Hathloul in court.

Prominent women’s rights campaigner Manal al-Sharif, who wrote the memoir “Daring to Drive” about her experience being thrust into activism after she filmed herself driving and uploaded it to YouTube, said on Twitter that three of the activists were taken from their homes and accused of treason, citing an official statement.

As activists remain under pressure to keep silent, credit for reforms, such as lifting the ban on women driving, has largely gone to the king’s 32-year-old son and heir, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. He has relaxed some of the country’s ultraconservative rules by allowing women into stadiums to watch sports and bringing back musical concerts and movie theaters.

Such measures, however, are more about boosting the economy and improving the country’s image abroad, and less about promoting personal freedoms. The kingdom remains an absolute monarchy where protests are illegal and where the king and his son oversee all major decision-making.

Last year, Prince Mohammed oversaw the arrests of high-level princes and businessmen in a purported anti-corruption sweep that forced detainees to sign over significant portions of their wealth in exchange for their freedom.

Security forces also arrested last year dozens of writers, intellectuals and moderate clerics who were perceived as critics of his foreign policies, according to activists.

Human Rights Watch says the number of people held for excessively long periods has apparently increased dramatically in recent years in Saudi Arabia. The rights group, which analyzed a public database, said on May 6 that 2,305 people have been detained for more than six months without being referred to a judge. Another 1,875 have been held “under investigation” for more than a year, and 251 for over three years.</s>Saudi Arabia has detained women's rights activists for working with "foreign entities" just weeks before is lifts its ban on women driving.

The kingdom's state security said it had detained seven people and rights activists say all of them had worked in some capacity on women's rights issues, with five among the most prominent and outspoken women's rights campaigners in the country.

Pro-government media outlets have splashed their photos online and in newspapers, accusing them of betrayal and of being traitors.

The women activists had persistently called for the right to drive, but stressed that this was only the first step toward full rights.

For years, they also called for an end to less visible forms of discrimination, such as lifting guardianship laws that give male relatives final say on whether a woman can travel abroad, obtain a passport or marry.

Their movement was seen as part of a larger democratic and civil rights push in the kingdom, which remains an absolute monarchy where protests are illegal and where all major decision-making rests with the king and his son, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.

Some state-linked media outlets published the names of those detained, which include Loujain al-Hathloul, Aziza al-Yousef and Eman al-Najfan.

Rights activists who spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity for fear of repercussions, say Madeha al-Ajroush and Aisha al-Manae are also among the seven detained.

Both took part in the first women's protest movement for the right to drive in 1990, in which 50 women were arrested for driving and lost their passports and their jobs.

All five women are well-known activists who agitated for greater women's rights. Several of the women were professors at state-run universities and are mothers or grandmothers.

The Interior Ministry did not name those arrested, but said the group is being investigated for communicating with "foreign entities," working to recruit people in sensitive government positions and providing money to foreign circles with the aim of destabilising and harming the kingdom.

The stunning arrests come just six weeks before Saudi Arabia is set to lift the world's only ban on women driving next month.

When the kingdom issued its royal decree last year announcing that women would be allowed to drive in 2018, women's rights activists were contacted by the royal court and warned against giving interviews to the media or speaking out on social media.

Following the warnings, some women left the country for a period of time and others stopped voicing their opinions on Twitter.

As activists were pressured into silence, Saudi Arabia's 32-year-old heir to the throne stepped forth, positioning himself as the force behind the kingdom's reforms.

Human Rights Watch says, however, the crown prince's so-called reform campaign "has been a frenzy of fear for genuine Saudi reformers who dare to advocate publicly for human rights or women's empowerment".

"The message is clear that anyone expressing scepticism about the crown prince's rights agenda faces time in jail," said Sarah Leah Whitson, Middle East director at Human Rights Watch.

Last year, Prince Mohammed oversaw the arrests of dozens of writers, intellectuals and moderate clerics who were perceived as critics of his foreign policies.

He also led an unprecedented shakedown of top princes and businessmen, forcing them to hand over significant portions of their wealth in exchange for their freedom as part of a purported anti-corruption campaign.

In an interview with CBS in March, he said that he was "absolutely" sending a message through these arrests that there was a new sheriff in town.

Activists say writer Mohammed al-Rabea and lawyer Ibrahim al-Mudaimigh, two men who worked to support women's rights campaigners, are also among the seven detained.

Mr Al-Mudaimigh defended Ms al-Hathloul in court when she was arrested in late 2014 for more than 70 days for her online criticism of the government and for attempting to bring attention to the driving ban by driving from neighbouring United Arab Emirates into Saudi Arabia.

Those familiar with the arrests say Ms al-Hathloul was forcibly taken by security forces earlier this year from the UAE, where she was residing, and forced back to the kingdom.

In recent weeks, activists say several women's rights campaigners were also banned from travelling abroad.

Immediately after news of the arrests broke, pro-government Twitter accounts were branding the group as treasonous under an Arabic hashtag describing them as traitors for foreign embassies.

The pro-government SaudiNews50 Twitter account, with its 11.5 million followers, splashed images of those arrested with red stamps over their face that read "traitor" and saying that "history spits in the face of the country's traitors".

The state-linked Al-Jazirah newspaper published on its front-page a photo of Ms al-Hathloul and Ms al-Yousef under a headline describing them as citizens who betrayed the nation.</s>Saudi Arabia has arrested a number of female rights activists in the kingdom over the past days, rights group Human Rights Watch (HRW) and the Gulf Centre for Human Rights said.

In a statement issued on Saturday, US-based HWR said Saudi authorities detained seven women's rights defenders since May 15.

The women have long been advocating an end to the ban on Saudi women driving, and the abolishment of the male guardianship system, the group said.

"Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman's 'reform campaign' has been a frenzy of fear for genuine Saudi reformers who dare to advocate publicly for human rights or women's empowerment," HRW Middle East Director, Sarah Leah Whitson, said in a statement.

"The message is clear that anyone expressing skepticism about the crown prince's rights agenda faces time in jail."

Among the detained women are Eman al-Nafjan, a Saudi blogger, and Lujain al-Hathloul, a women right's activist who was previously arrested for 75 days for attempting to drive back into Saudi Arabia from neighbouring United Arab Emirates (UAE).

According to testimonies given to HRW, the women claimed the royal court had ordered them not to speak to the media last year, when the decision to reverse the long-standing ban was announced via a royal decree.

As of June 24, women will be allowed to drive for the first time in the kingdom, "in accordance with the Islamic laws".

On Friday, the Gulf Centre for Human Rights also said that "several human rights defenders were arrested".

According to them, al-Hathloul has not been able to communicate with her family or lawyer since being arrested, while al-Nafjan managed to contact her family once thus far.

Saudi Arabia has some of the world's tightest restrictions on women, despite ambitious government reforms aimed at boosting female employment.

The country's 32-year-old crown prince is believed to be behind the kingdom's lifting of the ban, which is part of a wider set of reforms being implemented as part of the Vision 2030 reform plan.

Yet, under the country's guardianship system, a male family member - normally the father, husband or brother - must grant permission for a woman's study, travel and other activities.

Saudi activists claim that the guardianship issue is at the core of the fight for women's rights.

Since 2011, nearly 30 activists and dissidents have been convicted in Saudi courts, many of whom received sentences of up to 15 years, according to HRW.</s>Seven people in Saudi Arabia, including four prominent women's rights activists who campaigned for the right to drive, are being accused by state security of working with "foreign entities."

Pro-government media outlets have splashed their photos online and on newspapers, accusing them of betrayal and of being traitors.

The stunning arrests come before Saudi Arabia is set to lift the world's only ban on women driving next month.

The Interior Ministry late Saturday did not name those arrested, but said the group is being investigated for communicating with "foreign entities" and providing money to foreign circles with the aim of destabilizing the kingdom.

Pro-government media have published the names of those detained, which include Loujain al-Hathloul and Aziza al-Yousef. Both are outspoken and well-known activists who've pushed for greater women's rights.</s>Saudi authorities have arrested seven prominent women’s rights advocates, just weeks before the kingdom’s longstanding driving ban on women is set to be lifted, Human Rights Watch said on Saturday.

While the reasons behind the arrests are not clear, activists told HRW that in September 2017, “the royal court had called the country’s prominent activists ... and warned them not to speak to the media”.

“The calls were made the same day the authorities announced that they would lift the driving ban on women,” HRW said.

The detainees rounded up since 15 May include Loujain al-Hathloul, Aziza al-Yousef and Eman al-Nafjan, women who have long opposed the driving ban – to be lifted on 24 June – as well as the kingdom’s enduring guardianship laws.

Saudi Arabia’s guardianship system require women to obtain permission from their fathers, brothers, husbands or even sons for a host of life decisions.

“Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s ‘reform campaign’ has been a frenzy of fear for genuine Saudi reformers who dare to advocate publicly for human rights or women’s empowerment,” said Sarah Leah Whitson, Middle East director at the watchdog.

“It appears the only ‘crime’ these activists committed was wanting women to drive before Mohammed bin Salman did,” she said.

Activists Nafjan and Hathloul in 2016 signed a petition to abolish Saudi Arabia’s male guardianship system, according to HRW.

They also participated in a campaign against the driving ban, before a royal decree announced it would be lifted.

Hathloul was previously arrested at age 25 when she drove from the neighbouring United Arab Emirates to the Saudi land border in November 2014, HRW said. She was held in juvenile detention for 73 days.

The detainees also include a semi-retired lawyer who has stepped in to represent Saudi human rights advocates in recent years, according to activists.

Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, 32, is seen as the force behind the lifting of Saudi Arabia’s longstanding driving ban on women, part of a series of reforms being pushed by the powerful royal in the conservative kingdom.

The decision to allow women to drive could give them the much-needed mobility to join the workforce.

Saudi women now no longer need male permission to start a business.

But Saudi activists say social change will only be cosmetic without dismantling the kingdom’s guardianship system.</s>(AP Photo/Loujain al-Hathloul, File). FILE - This Nov. 30, 2014 image made from video released by Loujain al-Hathloul, shows her driving towards the United Arab Emirates - Saudi Arabia border before her arrest on Dec. 1, 2014, in Saudi Arabia. Rights a...

(AP Photo/Hasan Jamali, File). FILE - In this March 29, 2014 file photo, Aziza al-Yousef drives a car on a highway in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, as part of a campaign to defy Saudi Arabia's ban on women driving. Saudi authorities have detained at least six ...

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) - Just weeks before Saudi Arabia is set to lift its ban on women driving, the kingdom's state security said Saturday it had detained seven people who are being accused of working with "foreign entities." Rights activists say all those detained had worked in some capacity on women's rights issues, with five of those detained among the most prominent and outspoken women's rights campaigners in the country.

Pro-government media outlets have splashed their photos online and in newspapers, accusing them of betrayal and of being traitors.

The women activists had persistently called for the right to drive, but stressed that this was only the first step toward full rights. For years, they also called for an end to less visible forms of discrimination, such as lifting guardianship laws that give male relatives final say on whether a woman can travel abroad, obtain a passport or marry.

Their movement was seen as part of a larger democratic and civil rights push in the kingdom, which remains an absolute monarchy where protests are illegal and where all major decision-making rests with the king and his son, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.

Some state-linked media outlets published the names of those detained, which include Loujain al-Hathloul, Aziza al-Yousef and Eman al-Najfan.

Rights activists who spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity for fear of repercussion say Madeha al-Ajroush and Aisha al-Manae are also among the seven detained. Both took part in the first women's protest movement for the right to drive in 1990, in which 50 women were arrested for driving and lost their passports and their jobs.

All five women are well-known activists who agitated for greater women's rights. Several of the women were professors at state-run universities and are mothers or grandmothers.

The Interior Ministry on Saturday did not name those arrested, but said the group is being investigated for communicating with "foreign entities," working to recruit people in sensitive government positions and providing money to foreign circles with the aim of destabilizing and harming the kingdom.

The stunning arrests come just six weeks before Saudi Arabia is set to lift the world's only ban on women driving next month.

When the kingdom issued its royal decree last year announcing that women would be allowed to drive in 2018, women's rights activists were contacted by the royal court and warned against giving interviews to the media or speaking out on social media.

Following the warnings, some women left the country for a period of time and others stopped voicing their opinions on Twitter.

As activists were pressured into silence, Saudi Arabia's 32-year-old heir to the throne stepped forth, positioning himself as the force behind the kingdom's reforms.

Human Rights Watch says, however, the crown prince's so-called reform campaign "has been a frenzy of fear for genuine Saudi reformers who dare to advocate publicly for human rights or women's empowerment."

"The message is clear that anyone expressing skepticism about the crown prince's rights agenda faces time in jail," said Sarah Leah Whitson, Middle East director at Human Rights Watch.

Last year, Prince Mohammed oversaw the arrests of dozens of writers, intellectuals and moderate clerics who were perceived as critics of his foreign policies. He also led an unprecedented shakedown of top princes and businessmen, forcing them to hand over significant portions of their wealth in exchange for their freedom as part of a purported anti-corruption campaign.

In an interview with CBS in March, he said that he was "absolutely" sending a message through these arrests that there was a new sheriff in town.

Activists say writer Mohammed al-Rabea and lawyer Ibrahim al-Mudaimigh, two men who worked to support women's rights campaigners, are also among the seven detained. Al-Mudaimigh defended al-Hathloul in court when she was arrested in late 2014 for more than 70 days for her online criticism of the government and for attempting to bring attention to the driving ban by driving from neighboring United Arab Emirates into Saudi Arabia.

Those familiar with the arrests say al-Hathloul was forcibly taken by security forces earlier this year from the UAE, where she was residing, and forced back to the kingdom.

In recent weeks, activists say several women's rights campaigners were also banned from traveling abroad.

Immediately after news of the arrests broke, pro-government Twitter accounts were branding the group as treasonous under an Arabic hashtag describing them as traitors for foreign embassies.

The pro-government SaudiNews50 Twitter account, with its 11.5 million followers, splashed images of those arrested with red stamps over their face that read "traitor" and saying that "history spits in the face of the country's traitors."

The state-linked Al-Jazirah newspaper published on its front-page a photo of al-Hathloul and al-Yousef under a headline describing them as citizens who betrayed the nation.

Activists told the AP that some in the group were arrested on Tuesday and at least one person was arrested Thursday. They say the detainees were transferred from the capital, Riyadh, to the city of Jiddah for interrogations where the royal court has relocated for the month of Ramadan.

Activists say it's not clear why the seven have been arrested now.

Copyright 2018 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.</s>DUBAI (Reuters) - Saudi Arabia has arrested at least five people, mostly women who previously agitated for the right to drive and an end to the kingdom’s male guardianship system, rights activists said on Friday.

Last year’s decision to end a decades-old ban on women driving cars, set to come into effect next month, has been hailed as proof of a new progressive trend in the deeply conservative Muslim country under reform-minded Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.

But it has also been accompanied by an apparent crackdown on dissent against critics, ranging from Islamist clerics to some of the very women who campaigned for years to end the ban.

One of the rights activists, who spoke to Reuters on condition of anonymity for fear of reprisals, said the latest arrests were tied to advocacy for women driving: “They detained them because they do not want them to publicly claim success.”

Government spokesmen did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Women will be allowed to drive starting on June 24. The authorities have opened driving schools in preparation, instituted new regulations and hired women traffic police.

Activists and analysts say, however, that the government is keen to avoid rewarding activism, which is forbidden in the absolute monarchy, and seems determined not to antagonize sensitivities of religious conservatives opposed to modernization.

Women who previously participated in protests against the ban told Reuters last year that two dozen activists had received phone calls instructing them not to comment on the decree.

Some of those arrested this week spoke out about the ban after the decision, though it was not clear what specifically led to their arrest nor what charges, if any, had been made against them.

Dozens of clerics seen by the government as dabbling in politics were detained in September, a move that appears to have paved the way for lifting the driving ban.

Ending the ban is part of the kingdom’s Vision 2030 reform program aimed at diversifying the economy away from oil and opening up Saudis’ cloistered lifestyles.

Prince Mohammed, 32, is the face of that change. Many young Saudis regard his recent ascent to power as proof their generation is taking a central place in running a country whose patriarchal traditions have for decades made power the province of the old and blocked women’s progress.</s>(CNN) — Weeks before Saudi Arabia is due to lift a ban on female drivers, authorities in the kingdom have detained four of the women who campaigned for the right to get behind the wheel.

Activists Loujain al-Hathloul, Iman al-Nafjan, Aziza al-Yousef and Aisha Almane were arrested last week, along with four male supporters, the government and Saudi media said Friday.

They are accused of “suspicious contact with foreign entities to support their activities, recruiting some persons in charge of sensitive government positions, and providing financial support to hostile elements outside the country,” state news agency SPA reported, quoting a state security spokesman.

The spokesman said the women wanted to “destabilize the kingdom and breach its social structure and mar the national consistency.”

The statement did not name the activists, but local media did, with one headline in the daily al-Jazirah newspaper branding them as “traitors.”

Saudi Arabia is set to lift the world’s only ban on women driving on June 24, in a move that was heralded round the world as a significant step for women’s rights in the country.

The arrests have raised alarm amongst women’s rights campaigners and those monitoring the social reform agenda of the Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud.

“We are back to square one,” Sydney-based Saudi activist and author Manal Al-Sharif told CNN on Sunday.

“We used to live in a police state; if you speak up you go to jail. And then there would be a defamation campaign against you, saying all sort of untrue things. Character assassination. We are seeing the same pattern again now.”

Al-Sharif said security forces arrested the women in their homes without a warrant and currently have had no contact their families.

“They have been intimidated for a long time. They were asked to shut up. They movements were monitored. Their phones were monitored. Most of them were banned from travel,” she said.

Amnesty International condemned the arrests and the negative campaign against those arrested that followed in local media.

“The broader political message here is that authorities are signaling that they are the ones in charge of change,” Samah Hadid, Amnesty International’s Middle East director of campaigns, told CNN.

“Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman has presented himself as a ‘reformer’, but his promises of reform seem entirely superficial as the repression of human rights activists continues unabated,” Hadid said in a statement.

Human Rights Watch said the arrests fall into a wider campaign of political repression.

“Since 2014, Saudi authorities have tried nearly all peaceful dissidents in the Specialized Criminal Court, Saudi Arabia’s counter-terrorism tribunal,” the organization said in a statement.

The women along with other activists arrested have been calling for an end to Saudi Arabia’s repressive guardianship system which requires women to get the permission of a male guardian for almost everything.

Last year, the Kingdom began to eased some of the restrictions in that system especially those regarding education.

Other recent social reforms include the opening of movie theaters, music concerts and allowing women into sports stadiums for the first time.

Saudi authorities didn’t immediately respond to CNN questions about the arrests and the contradiction with the government’s policy in recent months.</s>In a development that human rights observers have called “chilling,” Saudi Arabia arrested a group of prominent women’s rights advocates on Saturday and subjected them to a "smear campaign" in pro-government newspapers.

Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, known as MBS, has branded himself as a reformer, pushing to loosen or lift the conservative kingdom’s restrictions on women’s clothing, their right to drive, their ability to launch a business and their ability to attend sporting events. He’s even said that women are “absolutely” equal to men.

However, international observers are baffled by the timing of the recent crackdown against female activists, coming just weeks before the driving ban is set to be lifted, who have called for more equality with men.

Saudis have also noted that the activists saw their pictures circulated in government-friendly media outlets and on social media along with the word "traitor."

According to Amnesty International, the six activists and one other individual were accused of forming a “cell,” and posing a threat to national security for their “contact with foreign entities with the aim of undermining the country’s stability and social fabric.”

Each of the activists was pushing for modernization and gender equality in the kingdom. One of the arrested activists, Aziza al-Yousef, had campaigned to end the country’s male guardianship system. Another, Loujain al-Hathloul, fought to have the driving ban on women lifted. Another, Mohammad al-Rabea, started a literary salon for young men and women in Saudi Arabia’s capital, Riyadh.

SAUDI CROWN PRINCE SAYS WOMEN ARE 'ABSOLUTELY' EQUAL TO MEN, CONTINUES MODERNIZATION PUSH

“This chilling smear campaign is an extremely worrying development for women human rights defenders and activists in Saudi Arabia. Such blatant intimidation tactics are entirely unjustifiable,” Samah Hadid, Amnesty International’s Middle East Director of Campaigns, said in a statement.

The recent detentions do fit a pattern that has played out over the last year: as the crown prince has asserted his rule, a wide range of businessmen, activists, clerics and princes have been rounded up and arrested. Some of those swept up in the original crackdown were released.

“Saudi Arabia cannot continue to publicly proclaim support for women’s rights and other reforms, while targeting women human rights defenders and activists for peacefully exercising their rights to freedom of expression, association and assembly,” Hadid added.
The state security of Saudi Arabia arrests seven women's rights activists, whom the pro-government media presented as "traitors to the fatherland," for allegedly working with foreign entities. These arrests take place a little more than a month before the driving ban for women is lifted.