DUBAI: Qatar has deported a Saudi human rights activist on his way to Norway where he hoped to seek asylum, a watchdog said Monday. Mohammad al-Otaibi, 49, fled to neighboring Qatar in March after he had faced in Saudi Arabia charges related to his human rights work and was referred to an anti-terrorism court, the Gulf Center for Human Rights said in a statement.

It said Oslo had agreed to provide them with travel documents and the right to seek asylum as soon as they arrived.

First arrested in 2009, Otaibi in 2013 co-founded the Union for Human Rights in Riyadh.

Authorities ordered it shut after about one month, but he continued his work, issuing reports and giving interviews, the Gulf Center said.

New York-based Human Rights Watch warned in April that Otaibi would be at high risk of a long prison sentence and even possible ill-treatment if forcibly sent back to Saudi Arabia.

The move to deport Otaibi comes at a particularly sensitive time in relations between Saudi Arabia and Qatar.

Reports last week said Qatar’s leader, Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani, made explosive remarks on state media criticizing Gulf policy toward Iran, essentially putting Doha at odds with Riyadh.

But Doha maintains the Qatar News Agency website was hacked and no such comments were made by the emir.

The incident has pushed relations between the two countries to the lowest level for several years.

Qatari news sites were subsequently blocked in countries across the region, including Saudi Arabia.

Sunday, Anwar Gargash, UAE foreign affairs minister, warned that the alliance of Gulf Arab states was facing a major crisis and he said there was an urgent need to rebuild trust.