A Saudi court on Monday sentenced prominent women’s rights activist Loujain al-Hathloul to five years and eight months in prison in a trial that has drawn international condemnation as Riyadh faces renewed US scrutiny. Hathloul was arrested in March 2018 and was held under house arrest before being moved to the prison in May, rights groups say. She was among at least a dozen other “women’s rights activists” arrested, and Saudi media termed them, traitors. The verdict poses an early challenge to Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s relationship with US President-elect Joe Biden, who has criticized Riyadh’s human rights record. The court suspended two years and 10 months of her sentence. She has 30 days to appeal the verdict. The Nobel peace prize nominee alleges she has been tortured in prison, though these claims have been denied by Saudi Arabia. Lina al-Hathloul, her younger sister, said the campaigner will appeal the sentence and ask for another investigation into the alleged torture she has endured. She added: “After nearly three years in pre-trial detention and now five weeks of a rushed trial process in the Specialised Criminal Court, my sister Loujain was sentenced. She was charged, tried and convicted using counter-terrorism laws.