dubai prominent womens rights activist loujain alhathloul was released from a saudi prison after nearly three years behind bars her family said on wednesday a case that has drawn international condemnationhathloul 31 was detained in may 2018 and sentenced in december to nearly six years in prison on charges that un rights experts called spurious under broad counterterrorism laws the court suspended two years and 10 months of her sentence most of which had already been servedshe still faces a fiveyear travel ban ordered by the courtloujain is at home her sister lina tweetedanother sister alia said hathloul was at their parents home in saudi arabia she posted a picture of hathloul smiling in a garden looking much thinner and with grey streaks in her hairrights groups and her family say hathloul who had campaigned for womens right to drive and to end saudis male guardianship system was subjected to abuse including electric shocks waterboarding flogging and sexual assaultsaudi authorities denied the accusations a saudi appeals court dismissed the torture claims citing a lack of evidence her family said on tuesdayamnesty international on wednesday urged riyadh to bring to justice those responsible for her torture and ensure hathloul faces no further punitive measures like a travel bansaudi officials have not commented on her conviction or sentencing there was no immediate comment on her releasethe white house has said president joe biden who is taking a firmer line with saudi arabia than predecessor donald trump expects riyadh to improve its human rights record including releasing political prisonersreleasing her was the right thing to do biden said of hathloulun secretarygeneral antonio guterres welcomed her release spokesman stephane dujarric saidbut i think it is important that others who are in the same condition as her who have been jailed for the same reasons as her also be released and that charges be dropped against them he told reportershathloul detained along with several other womens rights activists was convicted on charges including seeking to change the saudi political system and harming national unitysaudi arabias rights record came under global scrutiny after the 2018 murder of prominent saudi journalist jamal khashoggi by saudi agents which tarnished crown prince mohammed bin salmans image the prince denied ordering the killingagnes callamard the independent un rights investigator who led an international probe into khashoggis murder welcomed hathlouls release but said in a twitter post that the cruelty of saudi rulers that violated her most basic right to physical and mental integrity should not be forgottendiplomats have said the kingdom has appeared to be acting to address potential friction with the biden administrationsaudi authorities released two activists with us citizenship on bail this month pending trials on terrorismrelated charges last month a saudi appeals court nearly halved a sixyear jail sentence for a ussaudi physician and suspended the rest meaning he did not have to return to jailhathlouls family published her indictment after her case was transferred to a specialised criminal court established to try terrorism suspects but