Iran Press/ Middle East: Following a concerted campaign by her relatives and global rights groups, Hathloul was granted probation by a judge in Riyadh and released to her family on Wednesday afternoon.
Her sister Lina published a photo of a smiling Loujain on Twitter.
"Loujain is at home !!!!!!," the accompanying message said.
Another sister, Alia, said in a separate post that Hathloul was at their parents’ home in Saudi Arabia, adding "this is the best day of my life"
It is understood that the terms of Hathloul’s probation prevent her from discussing her ordeal in prison. She is banned from leaving Saudi Arabia and has a suspended sentence looming if she breaks the terms of her release, Reuters reported.
Hathloul, 31, had been a leading campaigner for the right for women to drive in Saudi Arabia before a change in the law in late 2017.
Calls for her release by her family had been repeatedly championed by human rights groups and foreign governments. However, as late as December last year she was sentenced to five years and eight months behind bars and accused of pushing a foreign agenda and using the internet to harm public order.
The sentence dashed hopes of an imminent release and intensified criticism of the heir to the Saudi throne, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, who has been the driving force behind widespread social changes in the Kingdom as well as a ruthless crackdown on dissent.
Hathloul was charged with seeking to change the Saudi political system and harming national security, local media said. The court suspended two years and 10 months of her sentence, or time served since Hathloul was arrested on May 15, 2018, the newspapers said.
United Nations human rights experts have called the charges against her spurious, and along with leading rights groups and lawmakers in the United States and Europe have called for her release.
The detentions of women activists occurred shortly before and after the kingdom lifted a ban on women driving, which many activists had long championed, as part of reforms introduced by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman that were also accompanied by a crackdown on dissent and an anti-corruption purge.
Hathloul's sentencing came just nearly three weeks after a Riyadh court jailed U.S.-Saudi physician Walid al-Fitaihi for six years, despite U.S. pressure to release him, in a case rights groups have called politically motivated.
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