Saudi slaps travel ban on rights activist Eman Al Qah'tani for tweeting support for critics of King

Leading Saudi rights activist Eman Al Qah'tani was stopped by authorities in her attempt to board a flight to Istanbul, while being handed out a travel ban for her reporting and tweeting on the trials of two leading Saudi rights activists, Mohammad Al Qah'tani and Abdullah Al Hamid, among other activists.

According to Gulf News, the two men who were on trial earlier this year are founders of the Saudi Civil and Political Rights Association and were being tried for setting up unlicensed organisations and breaking their allegiance to the King.

Eman was live tweeting during the trial, which allegedly upset the authorities and in April, she had announced that she would stop tweeting to protect her family from reprisals by the government, the report said.

Recently, several Saudi human rights campaigners have been imprisoned with two women being jailed earlier in June for allegedly inciting a woman against her husband.