Rania Al-Assal is an Egyptian journalist and human rights activist known for her outspoken criticism of Saudi Arabia’s military actions in Yemen and Israel’s occupation of Palestine. In March 2023, while performing Umrah in Mecca, she was arrested by Saudi authorities after posting a tweet criticizing the naming of the Grand Mosque’s gates after Saudi kings. Following her arrest, she was held incommunicado in an undisclosed location for nearly a year.