A Saudi court has ordered the arrest of a prominent rights lawyer who was standing trial for insulting the authorities in the ultraconservative kingdom and defying its ruler, the man’s wife said Wednesday.

A Saudi court has ordered the arrest of a prominent rights lawyer who was standing trial for insulting the authorities in the ultraconservative kingdom and defying its ruler, the man's wife said Wednesday.

Lawyer Waleed Abulkhair was already on bail for holding unauthorized meetings for reformists when he went to fifth hearing of his trial at a Riyadh court on Tuesday.

His wife Samar Badawi had not heard from him since he told her he was switching his phone off to enter the closed-hearing courtroom, and was told on Wednesday that he was in jail, she said.

"I found out today (Wednesday) from the court that the judge has ordered his arrest and he has been sent to Hair prison," Badawi told AFP by telephone.

Badawi said she went to the prison where she was told that her husband is being held, but was not allowed to see him without an interior ministry permit.

"I went to the interior ministry and they told me to return in two weeks to get a permit," she said.

No reason was given for Abulkhair's latest arrest.

Abulkhair is on trial for "defying the ruler, insulting authorities, forming two organizations, and incitation," according to a Tweet he posted before going to court on Tuesday.

He is already facing other trials in cases linked to his activism.

In October, Abulkhair was sentenced to three months in prison for "insulting judiciary" and a petition he signed two years ago criticizing the authorities.

He was briefly held the same month for setting up an "unauthorized" meeting place where pro-reform activists gathered but he was later freed on bail.

In June 2012, he was accused of "disrespecting the judiciary... contacting foreign organizations and signing a petition demanding the release of detainees," some of whom were being held over suspected terror links, his wife said at the time.

Three months before that, authorities banned him from travelling to the United States where he was due to attend a forum organized by the State Department.

And in February 2011, he signed two other petitions demanding political reform in the kingdom, where political parties are banned.

Abulkhair had set up a group on Facebook -- Monitor of Human Rights in Saudi -- which has nearly 9,000 members.