SAUDI ARABIA’S public prosecutor’s office said today that 17 people have been detained on suspicion of trying to undermine security and stability in a case targeting women’s rights campaigners.

Prosecutors did not name those arrested by the authorities, but they said that eight had been temporarily released.

The people arrested are activists associated with the campaign to lift the kingdom’s ban on women driving, despite the ban set to be scrapped from June 24.

Activists and rights group say that among those released are Aisha al-Mana, Hessah al-Sheikh and Madeha al-Ajroush — three veteran advocates of women’s rights who took part in the first driving protest in 1990.

Walaa al-Shubbar, a nurse who spoke out in support of women’s rights, was also briefly detained and released, according to rights groups.

The prosecutor’s statement said five men and four women are still being held with “sufficient evidence against them, as well as their confession to the charges.”

The statement claimed the activists had admitted to communicating with people and organisations hostile to the kingdom, recruiting people in a sensitive government entity to obtain confidential information to harm the kingdom, and providing financial and moral support to hostile elements abroad. State-linked media have referred to the group as “foreign embassy agents” and branded them traitors.

Torture of detainees is common, and Saudi newspaper Okaz has reported that the activists could face the death penalty if convicted.

Among those detained since May 15 are Loujain al-Hathloul, Aziza al-Yousef and Eman al-Nafjan, according to people with knowledge of the arrests who spoke out on condition of anonymity for fear of repercussions. The three women still being held are among the most well-known women’s rights activists in Saudi Arabia.

Also believed to still be detained are Ibrahim al-Mudaimigh, a lawyer who has represented human rights activists in the kingdom, writer and activist Mohammed al-Rabea and Abdulaziz al-Meshaal, a businessman and philanthropist who supported an effort by activists to establish a charity to help victims of domestic abuse.

Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch say Mohammed al-Bajadi, a founding member of the now banned Saudi Civil and Political Rights Association, was arrested on May 24 as part of the current sweep against activists.