Saudi arrests two in ongoing crackdown on rights activists

RIYADH, June 10 (Al Jazeera): Saudi authorities arrested two more women's rights activist in the last three days.

ALQST, a UK-based rights group focusing on Saudi Arabia, said Mayaa al-Zahrani was detained on Saturday for a social media post in support of Nouf Abdulaziz al-Jerawi, a fellow activist arrested on Wednesday when security forces raided her home.

Al-Zahrani had also posted an article written by al-Jerawi, where the latter clarified her role as volunteering to help the oppressed by putting them in contact with lawyers and human rights groups.

"Why am I considered as an enemy of the state that threatens its security?" al-Jerawi wrote in a post that has been widely circulated.

ALQST described the detention of the two women as part of "the ongoing arrests of activists".

"We believe the Saudi authorities are keen to suppress all activists, and all sympathy with them," the rights group said.

The arrests were also reported by Prisoners of Conscience, a rights group that documents the arrests of Saudi nationals. Last month, the government announced that a number of activists were being held for having suspicious contacts with foreign entities, as well as offering financial support to "foreign enemies".

Other suspects were being sought, the government said at the time, while state-linked media labelled those arrested as traitors and "agents of embassies".