London, February 6 (RHC)-- A panel including three British members of Parliament has concluded that the “highest levels of Saudi authority” are responsible for the “cruel, inhuman and degrading” treatment of women activists and may be in violation of international law. 

The British panel looked at reports from human rights groups detailing the fates of women activists jailed after campaigning for the right to drive and an end to the male guardianship system.  The women include Loujain al-Hathloul, a prominent women’s rights advocate who has been arrested several times. 

Amnesty International has issued a separate report, saying that women activists in Saudi Arabia were sexually harassed, electrocuted, flogged and subjected to death threats.