[10][11] Rodriguez described the September 2017 arrests as constituting a campaign of political repression by Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman (MBS), in reaction to which Jamal Khashoggi left Saudi Arabia for exile in the United States.
[12] In mid-May 2018, Aziza al-Yousef, Loujain al-Hathloul and Eman al-Nafjan, together with Aisha al-Mana, Madeha al-Ajroush and two male activists, were arrested by Saudi authorities.
[17] As of 27 June 2018[update], Al Jazeera English stated that nine of the activists, out of a total of 17, remained under arrest without contact with their families or lawyers.
[2] As of 2 August 2019[update], Loujain al-Hathloul, Samar Badawi and Nassima al-Sada remained under arrest, while several of the other detained women had been released while their trials continued.
[18] Twelve people, a pregnant woman and eleven men, involved in women's rights activities or supportive of the imprisoned activists were arrested on or around 4 April 2019.
[2] The arrestees, including two United States (US)–Saudi binational citizens, Badr al-Ibrahim and Salah al-Haidar, son of Aziza al-Yousef, were seen as not being "front-line activists", in the sense that they were not politically active on Twitter and were rarely quoted in non-Saudi media.
[2] Other April detainees included writers Khadijah al-Harbi and her husband Thumar al-Marzouqi, Mohammed al-Sadiq, Andhullah al-Dehailan, Naif al-Hendas, Ayman al-Drees, Abdullah al-Shehri and Moqbel al-Saqqar.
[2] King Saud University lecturer Anas al-Mazraoui was earlier arrested in March after having stated the names of some of the imprisoned women's rights activists during a human-rights panel discussion at a book fair.
[13] Social anthropologist Madawi al-Rasheed interpreted the May arrests as being part of Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman's aim to keep all the credit for allowing women to drive starting from 24 June 2018.