Riyadh - On Monday 26 October, Loujain AlHathloul, a 31-year-old Saudi women’s rights activist who has been arbitrarily detained since May of 2018 started a hunger strike to protest conditions of her imprisonment in Saudi Arabia.

This is the second time this year that Loujain has been denied regular communication with her family. Loujain is now being forced to take on a second hunger strike after seven weeks of Saudi authorities again denying her the right to speak to her family.

Her family has not seen or heard from Loujain since 26 October.

The Ladies European Tour has commenced in Saudi Arabia with prize money up to one million USD - another sports washing effort by Saudi Arabia and the ruling controversial Prince Mohamed Ben Salman who thinks by organising sporting events like these will compensate for the ongoing violations of human rights in his country.

The G20 virtual summit starts next week in Saudi Arabia and so far a majority of world leaders have failed to condemn Loujain’s imprisonment and call for her release and call out Saudi Arabia’s gross human rights violations.