She was detained in May 2000 and 18 and sentenced in December to nearly six years in prison under broad cybercrime and counter terrorism laws.

Head Lol was released last month, having served half of her custodial sentence.

She was hopeful when she walked into the courthouse Wednesday morning, only to see the court upholding her sentence.

So let's hope that the sentence has been changed or modified a little bit.

We'll see how it goes.

Thank you so much for your support.

The human rights activists rose to prominence in 2000 and 13 when she began publicly campaigning for women's rights to drive in Saudi Arabia.

The ban on female drivers came to an end in 2000 and 18 after the law was changed.

She also campaigned against the conservative kingdom's male guardianship system, which assigned each woman with a male relative to approve big decisions throughout a woman's life.

Her sentencing drew widespread international condemnation.