Basmah bint Saud

Basmah bint Saud bin Al Saud ( Bismah bint Su'ūd Āl Su'ūd; born 1 March 1964) is a Saudi Arabian royal, businesswoman and human rights activist. She is one of the grandchildren of Saudi's founder King Abdulaziz and a daughter of King Saud.

Princess Basmah is the youngest daughter of King Saud. Her mother, Jamila bint Asad Ibrahim Marei, immigrated to Saudi Arabia from the Syrian port city of Latakia. King Saud married her and had seven children with her.

In March 2019, Basmah bint Saud was arrested by eight armed men when she and her daughter Suhoud Al Sharif tried to leave Saudi Arabia for medical attention in Switzerland. Basmah then went missing from public view. It was reported that she was held in the al-Ha'ir Prison. On 6 January 2022, Basmah and Suhoud were released.

Early life

Born on 1 March 1964 in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, Her mother was a Syrian-born woman, Jamila Merhi, the year of his death. Her mother took her to the Middle East's then-most cosmopolitan city, the Lebanese capital of Beirut. When Lebanon's civil war broke out in 1975, the family fled for Britain. a member of the Al Sharif family. three daughters and two sons.

Detention Princess Basmah was arrested in March 2019 over the accusation of trying to travel outside the kingdom illegally, which is a criminal offense in Saudi Arabia. Her daughter Souhoud bint Shuja Al-Sharif, who is being held with her in Al-Ha'ir Prison, was accused of assaulting an agent and an unspecified cyber-crime. During their arrest in 2019, no formal charges were brought forward against either of them. Since the princess’ arrest, she hasn’t been allowed to have a regular contact with her family nor has she been provided with any legal advice.

Basmah has been suffering from osteoporosis, colonic and heart issues, but she hasn’t received regular or proper medical care since her detention. Her family believes her arrest was linked to her claim of being a part of a multi-billion-euro inheritance left by her father, King Saud. She was released on 6 January 2022. In 2008, she also founded a media firm, Media Ecco, in addition to catering firms, which she is also planning to expand. However, her criticisms do not directly address the royal family but the Saudi governors and other middle-level administrators. She specifically supports reform in Saudi Islamic laws regarding bans on mixed gatherings of men and women, and to make optional for Muslim women to cover modestly or not. Basmah bint Saud has questioned the misuse of the Islamic fiqh in Saudi society, arguing that the religious establishment needs to be reformed in order that it plays a constructive role in modernising society and improving the situation of women in the kingdom.

In April 2012, Basmah told BBC that there are many changes she would like to see in Saudi Arabia but that is not the time for women to be allowed to drive, a right Saudi women were given as part of the reforms by King Salman and Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. Basmah called for changes concerning constitution, divorce laws, overhaul of the educational system, complete reform of social services and changes in the role of the mahram (the male guardian, usually a relative, that all Saudi women are required to have).

The Fourth Way Law Through the research centre, GURA, based in London, the Fourth Way Law was registered and documented by the European Union in 2014. Princess Basmah received a prize in recognition for internationally monitoring human rights, geopolitical changes, international developments, establishing training centres in various fields related to the culture of the Fourth Way Law on a global scale, such as security, economic and administrative. It has been noted that many countries, such as America and Britain, have been taking recommendations from the Fourth Way Law when making decisions on intellectual, environmental and economic security which other specialist international research centers had not discussed.

One of these recommendations was the decision of the American President Obama in 2014 to implement a law to monitor social network sites and develop specialised laws for it. Many sections from the Fourth Way Law specialising in human rights have also been adopted in Britain after she gave a famous lecture at the University of Cambridge in 2012. In July 2015, the British government took up all the recommendations offered by Princess Basmah in the Fourth Way Law during her residence in Britain (2011–2014).