Nov 20, 2018

Saudi activists, including women, detained in a government crackdown this year have faced sexual harassment and torture during interrogation, Amnesty International said Tuesday.

The activists, held since May in Dhahban prison on the western Red Sea coast, have faced repeated electrocution and flogging, leaving some of them unable to stand or walk, the rights group said in a report, citing three separate testimonies.

At least one activist was made to hang from a ceiling and another detained woman was sexually harassed by interrogators wearing face masks, Amnesty added.

The report comes as Saudi Arabia faces intense global criticism over the killing of insider-turned-critic Jamal Khashoggi in its Istanbul consulate on October 2, which tipped the kingdom into one of its worst crises.

"Only a few weeks after the ruthless killing of Jamal Khashoggi, these shocking reports of torture, sexual harassment and other forms of ill-treatment, if verified, expose further outrageous human rights violations by the Saudi authorities," said Lynn Maalouf, Amnesty's Middle East resea