Saudi Arabia has banned Jamal Khashoggi from writing for newspapers, appearing on TV and attending conferences after he criticized United States President-elect Donald Trump in November. 

The news came as a shock to the prominent Saudi journalist, sources in Jeddah have said, according to Middle East Eye. 

Khashoggi is said to have close ties to the government and served previously as the editor-in-chief of Arab Times and Al-Watan. 

His critical remarks, which were made during a presentation to a Washington D.C. think-tank, come at a time when the future of the kingdom's relationship with the United States hangs in the balance. As a presidential candidate, Trump promised to block Saudi oil imports. 

At the same time, the President-elect also said that he loves Saudis for purchasing multi-million dollar apartments from him. He also started eight new companies in the kingdom at the beginning of his campaign.

Signalling the country's trepidation, the kingdom hired a powerful DC lobbyist after Trump's election to "undertake specific advocacy requests" on behalf of the country. 

Khashoggi pointed out that's Trump's positions on the Middle East are often contradictory, as he has expressed support for Syria's President Bashar Al Assad, who is staunchly supported by Iran. At the same time, Trump has criticized Iran repeatedly, saying he would "tear up" President Obama's landmark nuclear deal with the country.

The journalist suggested that Saudi Arabia should form an alliance of Sunni countries to rally together against any unfavorable decisions made under Trump's administration.

"When his advisers show him the map, will he realise supporting Putin means supporting the Iranian agenda? And this is what Saudi Arabia is concerned about, to stop Iranian hegemony," Khashoggi also told The Washington Post.

The kingdom had previously distanced itself from Khashoggi's comments in mid-November. A government source said that his viewpoint "does not represent the government of Saudi Arabia or its positions at any level," according to the Saudi Press Agency.

"We are not expecting Mr. Trump to be worse than Mr. Obama was,” Abdullah al-Shamri, a former Saudi diplomat said. 

He also said that most members of the royal family "are happy with the result," saying that Saudis "are closer to Republicans [Trump's political party] psychologically."

Qatar's two internet providers have confirmed that the independent news site Doha News has officially been blocked inside Qatar, citing licensing issues. 

The website has announced it will reduce the number of articles it produces until the issue is resolved.

The CEOs of Qatar's Vodafone and Ooredoo telecom companies confirmed to Doha News that the site has been blocked on their networks. They said that this was the result of "concerns raised regarding the licensing" of the website. 

Doha News has rejected the claim that licensing issues were behind the move and are calling this a "clear act of censorship." 

The move has sparked an outcry from rights groups and activists in the region. Rights group Amnesty International pointed to double standards in Qatar's media environment. 

"This is an alarming setback for freedom of expression in the country. Deliberately blocking people in Qatar from accessing a legitimate news website would be an outright attack on media freedom," James Lynch, Amnesty International’s Deputy Director for Global Issues said in a statement emailed to StepFeed.

"As the nation that founded the Al Jazeera media network and which hosts a center dedicated to promoting global media freedom, Qatar should be at the forefront of those championing freedom of the press."

The CEOs of Qatar's telecom industry encouraged Doha News to resolve the issue with the Ministry of Culture and the Ministry of Economy and Commerce. 

"We will be pleased to unblock access once the requirements of the relevant concerned parties have been met," Vodafone CEO Ian Gray, said in a statement to the news site.

The site, one of the only non-government-owned news organizations in Qatar, published a statement on Sunday explaining that it will continue to speak with authorities this week in hopes of resolving the issue. 

"We reject the idea that our news website should be blocked over licensing concerns — this is a clear act of censorship, and a fairly unprecedented one in Qatar," wrote Doha News co-founder and Publisher Omar Chatriwala.

He added that the site will be cutting back its production "in the interest of protecting" its staff. 

Last week, readers in Qatar noticed they were unable to access the website. Doha News quickly switched to a different website URL, but that was blocked shortly after as well.

The news team began publishing some of its articles on Medium for readers inside Qatar to access. International readers can still access the site and Qatar residents can also use VPN and several other options to access the content.

The Doha News team was initially puzzled by the decision.

 The authorities, they said, had not brought up any concerns with the staff. 

As one of the country's only independent news outlets, the website has been a go-to source for the latest in-depth news for nearly eight years, with about one million unique monthly readers.

"Our team of professional journalists has always aimed to draw the community together by informing and engaging them, and sparking debate on important issues," the news teams said in an initial statement.