Loujain Hathloul risks jail by demanding she be allowed to drive across Saudi Arabia border

• Loujain Hathloul, 25, is trying to drive across the border into Saudi Arabia
• She has had her passport confiscated and is being blocked from entering
• Started her journey in the UAE and tried to cross into Saudi yesterday
• Reports from campaigners say she has now been taken away by police
• Saudi Arabia is the only country in the world where women cannot drive
• This year, a woman got 150 lashes after being caught behind the wheel
• Ms Hathloul's actions have sparked a wave of protests across country

By Tahira Yaqoob In Dubai and Thomas Burrows for MailOnline

Published: 04:45 EST, 1 December 2014 | Updated: 08:09 EST, 1 December 2014

A Saudi female activist has mounted a brave one-woman protest against the country's female driving ban that has sparked protests across the Arab world overnight.

Loujain Hathloul, 25, from the country's capital of Riyadh, has spent 24 hours at the border after she had her passport confiscated and is currently being blocked from entering her own country - all because she got behind the wheel. She risks arrest if and when she does finally cross the border.

The French literature graduate started her journey from the United Arab Emirates, where she holds a driving licence and where it is legal for women to drive, and tried to cross its border into Saudi Arabia yesterday.

But border officials refused to let her cross and took away her passport. She has just spent a cold night sleeping in her car.

Today, 'October 26', a group campaigning for women's right to drive, tweeted that Ms Hathloul has been taken away by police, where she is reportedly being held at Albatha port police station.

Scroll down for video

Loujain Hathloul, 25, has spent 24 hours at the border of Saudi Arabia as she tries to drive herself home

She started her journey from the United Arab Emirates, where she holds a driving licence and where it is legal for women to drive, and tried to cross its border into Saudi Arabia yesterday

The female activist has been tweeting regular updates from the border with pictures of her inside her car

She has been tweeting regular updates from the border with pictures and a video of her driving to the border yesterday, which has already been watched by nearly 200,000 people.

Meanwhile, female supporters in Riyadh took to their cars themselves last night and drove around the city risking arrest to back Hathloul.

Ms Hathloul wrote in Arabic: 'Thank God for the rest of the gasoline. If it wasn't for God it would have been cold yesterday and my mobile might have died.

'Night brought my total time to 20 hours at the Saudi border.'

Today, she was brought supplies from Saudi journalist and presenter Maysaa Al Amoudi, who had her ID confiscated and is also being held at the police station.

This is not the first time Ms Hathloul has stirred up controversy.

Last year she posted videos online with her face and hair uncovered and poked fun at the conservative society in her native country. Those videos have been watched nearly 35 million times.

Ms Hathloul is protesting against the oppressive rule where woman are barred from driving in Saudi Arabia

Pride: Hathloul posted a picture of her United Arab Emirates driving licence earlier this year

Fame: At Abu Dhabi Film Festival in September this year, Hathloul announced her engagement to Saudi stand-up comedian Fahad Albutairi (pictured)

Her brave actions have sparked a wave of protests across the country, where women in the desert kingdom are not afforded the basic right of driving a car.

Last night, women in the country came out in force and drove cars around Riyadh in a show of support for Ms Hathloul. They posted videos of themselves on YouTube driving while wearing the full face-covering niqab.

Saudi Arabia is unique in being the only country in the world where women are forbidden to drive motor vehicles.

Women have been barred from driving since the establishment of the state in 1932 and earlier this year, a woman reportedly received 150 lashes after being caught behind the wheel.

Protests and acts of defiance against the ban have grown in recent years, with women posting videos of them behind the wheel to social media.

Ms Hathloul has been at the forefront of women's protests against the driving ban in the desert kingdom

Women in Saudi Arabia have begun to use social media to post videos of them driving in protest at the ban. There are reports that one woman was given 150 lashes for being caught behind the wheel

The 'women to drive movement' is a long-standing campaign by women in Saudi Arabia to defy the ban.

The most recent campaign was launched on October 26, 2013.

On that day, 60 women took to the streets of Saudi Arabia driving cars and posting videos of themselves doing so online.

They uploaded videos of them singing to Bob Marley's hit 'No Woman No Cry' with the words 'No Woman No Drive'.

In response, the group's website was blocked within the country and one of Saudi Arabia's top clerics said women who drive risk damaging their ovaries and bearing children with clinical problems.

Ms Hathloul was at the forefront of the October 26 2013 protest and her role was praised by fellow campaigners.

Eman Al Nafjan said: 'When we at the October 26 campaign were looking for a celebrity [last year] to announce the campaign, we contacted people we knew were pro-women driving.

'They all refused because they feared they would lose followers, fans and might have trouble at their places of work or study.

'Then someone suggested Loujain…when we explained the campaign to her, she instantly and boldly agreed to announce it.

'She got everything from death threats and insults to false rumours of her arrest and ban from travel.

'Instead of backing down and staying in Canada where she was studying, Loujain booked a flight home to Riyadh and then drove herself from the airport while her father filmed her.

'It drove her opposers crazy - so crazy that the ministry of interior called her father in and made him sign a pledge not to allow her to drive again.

'Despite all of that, she still stands her ground…she really is like a breath of fresh cool air in this hot desert climate.'

Journalists and campaigners tweeted messages of support for Ms Hathloul as she defied the driving ban

The glamorous princess told MailOnline that the basic right for women to drive a car 'can happen overnight'

Ameerah said: 'Saudi women are doing incredible things – we're making progress all the time'

Last week, Princess Ameerah, the former wife of a multi-billionaire Saudi Arabian royal, vowed to fight to win the basic right for women in the kingdom to drive a car, telling MailOnline it 'can happen overnight'.

She told MailOnline at the 5th Abu Dhabi Media Summit in the United Arab Emirates last week: 'It is my job and duty to use my power and influence to highlight these kind of issues and to try to find solutions.

'I am offered platforms to speak around the world, and I must use them to try to change things.

'I don't believe the ban will go on indefinitely. It will be like the decree calling for 20 per cent of Parliament to be made up of women – a surprising development, but one which happened very rapidly.

'I believe that it is the generation of young people in Saudi Arabia which is going to accelerate change in the country.'