The Nobel Peace laureate and human rights activist Tawakkol Karman has expressed absolute solidarity with the Saudi cleric, Sheikh Salman al-Awda, and all those detained and forcibly disappeared in Saudi Arabia.

Al-Awda’s arrest is also an arrest of moderation in thought, and of coexistence and moderation, Karman said in a statement on Facebook, noting that the enforced disappearance falls within “state of terrorism”.

"I am very confident that you are much stronger than those have put you behind bars," said Karman addressing the Saudi cleric.

The Saudi authorities arrested the return in September 2017, is one of the leading clerics in the Kingdom, and was previously imprisoned between 1994 to 1999 for his call for political change, and has 14 million followers on Twitter, "the Reuters news agency reported.

Sheikh Salman al-Awda was arrested on 7 September 2017 and has been prevented from communicating with the outside world since October. His arrest appears to have stemmed from a tweet he posted endorsing warmer relations with Qatar.