Saudi women activists detained for almost a year offered their defence at an emotionally charged hearing on Wednesday, alleging torture and sexual harassment during interrogation, courtroom sources said.
Eleven women responded to charges that rights groups say include contact with international media and human rights groups, in the second hearing of a high-profile trial that foreign reporters and diplomats are barred from attending.
Some of them wept and consoled each other and their family members gathered before a three-judge panel in Riyadh's criminal court as they accused interrogators of subjecting them to electric shocks and flogging and groping them 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 government, facing intense international scrutiny of its human rights record, denies the women were tortured or harassed. [AFP] Read more
