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A prominent Saudi activist's detention and sudden silence

Loujain Alhathloul’s family says she hasn’t been heard from in seven weeks. CBC Vancouver reporter Michelle Ghoussoub, who’s been following the imprisoned Saudi women’s rights activist’s story for years, tells us why her silence speaks volumes.
Loujain Alhathloul, a graduate of the University of British Columbia, was arrested in May 2018 along with nine other high-profile women's rights activists. Her family hasn't been able to speak to her in seven weeks. (Marieke Wijntjes/Amnesty International)

Loujain Alhathloul, a Saudi women's rights activist who studied in Canada, has been imprisoned for the past two years. Now, her family who used to be able to talk to her regularly, hasn't heard from her in seven weeks. 

Today, the CBC's Michelle Ghoussoub joins us to talk about how Alhathloul became one of the most prominent faces in the struggle for women's rights in Saudi Arabia, what her continued detention says about social reforms under the Saudi regime, and what her family thinks her silence means.

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