Detained Saudi women back in court but no more release

A Saudi court hearing in the high-profile trial of detained women ended Wednesday without bail for eight of them, campaigners said, following the provisional release of three detainees last week.

Eleven women, some of whom allegedly faced torture and sexual abuse during nearly a year in detention, are on trial in Riyadh's criminal court on charges that include contact with foreign media, diplomats and human rights groups.

Three of them -- blogger Eman al-Nafjan, retired university lecturer Aziza al-Youssef and preacher Rokaya al-Mohareb -- were seen entering the court after they were provisionally freed last Thursday.

The others were subsequently expected to be freed, but there was no decision from the three-judge panel on Wednesday.

"The third trial session for the Saudi women activists has ended with NO VERDICTS against any of them, and with no temporary release to any of them," Prisoners of Conscience, a Saudi group that tracks political prisoners, said on Twitter.

It added that the next court hearing was scheduled for April 17.

There was no immediate comment from the court, but the development was corroborated by multiple other activists and people with access to the trial.

Most of the activists were detained last summer in a wide-ranging crackdown against women campaigners just before the historic lifting of a decades-long ban on female motorists.

At an emotionally charged hearing last week, some of the women broke down while testifying that they faced torture and sexual harassment in detention.

They accused interrogators of subjecting them to electric shocks, flogging and groping in detention, two people with access to the trial told AFP.

At least one of the detained women tried to commit suicide following her mistreatment, a close relative said.

The Saudi government, facing sharp global criticism over its human rights record, denies the women were tortured or harassed.

The trial has intensified criticism of the kingdom over human rights following global outrage over journalist Jamal Khashoggi's murder by Saudi agents last October at the kingdom's consulate in Istanbul.