(MENAFN- Khaleej Times) A Saudi woman who tried to drive into the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia in defiance of a ban was arrested on late Monday night after being blocked at the UAE border for a day, activists said.
"I have been at the Saudi border for 24 hours. They don't want to give me my passport nor will they let me pass," Loujain Hathloul said in a Tweet at around midday, before Tweets from @LoujainHathloul stopped.
Activists said she was arrested at the border with the United Arab Emirates on Monday afternoon, but the interior ministry could not immediately comment on her case.Saudi activist Loujain Al Hathloul
Another woman, a Saudi journalist Maysaa Alamoudi, who went to support her, was also arrested, an activist told AFP.
"They transferred her and Maysaa... to the bureau of investigation" at a Saudi police station, said the activist who asked for anonymity.
Both women's phones rang unanswered.
Border officers blocked Hathloul because she was driving, activists said.
"The customs (department) have no right to prevent me from entering even if in their opinion I am 'a violator' because I am Saudi," Hathloul tweeted on Monday morning.
She said her driving licence "is valid in all GCC countries", a reference to the six-nation Gulf Cooperation Council which includes the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
Hathloul also posted details about her long confinement in her car.
She said Alamoudi arrived "and has brought me a toothbrush. Refreshing".
"Thank God I still have some petrol left," she wrote.
"If it weren't for that I would have died of the cold last night and my phone switched off. Yaala, I am almost 20 hours now at the border."
Six hours into her wait she had said she was "optimistic", and earlier joked: "If someone brings me a horse or a camel to the border, maybe then I'll be allowed to pass."
The other activist who spoke to AFP said Hathloul was trying to make a point in her unusual attempt to drive through the border.
"She knew that they wouldn't let her pass," the activist said.
During October dozens of women drove in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and posted images of themselves doing so as part of an online campaign supporting the right to drive.
In response, the interior ministry said it would "strictly implement" measures against anyone undermining "the social cohesion".
Women drivers have previously been arrested and cars have been confiscated, activists say.
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