Maryam al-Khawaja, a prominent Bahraini human rights activist was arrested on Saturday, as she attempted to enter the country, in order to visit her father, who is currently serving a life sentence.

Ms Khawaja, the co-director of the Bahrain Centre for Human Rights, was denied entry by officials at the airport, who said she had been stripped of her citizenship.

According to her popular twitter feed, she is being charged with “insulting the King” and “assaulting the police”.

Nabeel Rajab, president of the BCHR and who himself was detained for two years, said her imprisonment was absurd.

“She wanted to see her father, as simple as that,” he told Middle East Eye.

“There are hundreds of people who were deported and not allowed to come back to Bahrain by their own government,

“If there is no international coverage of what’s going on – and unfortunately I don’t expect much attention in her case – then the government of Bahrain can continue prosecuting human rights defenders and activists and bring them before a court that does not respect human rights,” he told MEE.

“So it’s a problem and she’s one of many human rights defenders in jail today.”

Human Rights Watch described her arrest as “outrageous” and said it was “unlawful to arbitrarily deny person entry or citizenship”.

Ms Khawaja’s sister, Zainab al-Khawaja was released earlier this year after being jailed for “insulting the police. Their father, Abdulhadi al-Khawaja, is serving a life sentence for plotting to overthrow the Sunni-led Bahraini regime, for his involvement in pro-democracy protests, by the majority-Shiite community.

Meanwhile the Bahraini appeals court decided to uphold a jail term handed down to award-winning photojournalist Ahmed Humaidan despite appeals by rights group for his release. Ahmad Humaidan, 25, was convicted of taking part in an attack on a police station in Sitra in April 2012, but human rights organisations say he was simply covering the protests.

Bahrain protesters sentenced to 15 years in prison (06 April 2014)

Sri Lanka lauds Bahrain’s enforcement of the ‘law’ (25 April 2013)