UN HUMAN rights officials issued a warning today over the cases of a dozen women’s rights activists arrested by the Saudi authorities.

More than 13 people, most of them women, have been nabbed since May 15, though four of them were reported to have been released.

The UN said that “the allegations against the remaining six women and three men known to have been taken into custody appear to be very serious and could lead to draconian sentences.” Saudi Arabia’s Okaz newspaper said they could face the death penalty.

They are being held by Saudi authorities at unknown locations and one woman is being detained completely incommunicado.

“If, as it appears, their detention is related solely to their work as human rights defenders and activists on women’s issues, they should be released immediately,” said UN spokeswoman Liz Throssell.

“We are concerned that the lack of transparency surrounding their situation could open the door to [physical and psychological] abuse.”

The women have been subjected to a smear campaign in the Saudi media, being branded as “traitors,” which Amnesty International called “an extremely worrying development for women human rights defenders and activists in Saudi Arabia.”

The arrests come amid a public relations push by the Saudi state, particularly targeting the Western media, that attempts to sell de facto ruler Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman as a great reformer.

However, the Saudi authorities have increased their repression of activists at home and are continuing their British and US-backed war on the country’s southern neighbour Yemen.