Saudi authorities have arrested an activist for critical tweets about the Riyadh regime, and its handling of unemployment in the country.

“We weren't there to disrupt the city residents,” trucker Brigitte Belton has said. "We were there to be heard."

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is set to testify at a public inquiry on Friday in defense of his government’s use of wartime measures in suppressing trucker protests that paralyzed the capital city earlier this year.

The uprising began on November 14, 1973 and escalated to an open anti-junta revolt that ended in bloodshed.

Saudi authorities have extended the prison sentence handed down to a prominent religious preacher, and increased it from 23 to 40 years.

Saudi Arabia’s so-called Specialized Criminal Court has sentenced a pro-democracy campaigner to 10 years in prison for writing tweets critical of the government.

Bahrainis stage demonstrations and rights groups denounce a “repressive climate” as the US-allied Persian Gulf state holds parliament elections after dissolving main opposition groups and cracking down on dissent.

Saudi authorities have detained an American woman after she openly criticized the kingdom on her Twitter account.

An international human rights organization says a Saudi court has handed down a death sentence against a teenager on charges of providing an Iftar meal for a wanted political opponent.

Human rights activists warn that Saudi officials plan to execute eight teenagers from the Shia-populated Qatif region over trumped-up terror allegations.