Bahrain’s Most Popular Blogger Arrested
Protest in Bahrain continue to threaten authorities there, and now they've gone ahead and arrested the country's most well known blogger. Mahmood Al-Yousif is a well known and persistent critic of the Bahraini government. "He is the godfather of the Bahraini blogging community. He's always called for tolerance and for Bahrainis to behave like one family," Global Voices' Amira al-Hussaini told the AP.
Tweeps are reporting that he Tweeted "Police are here for me" just before getting arrested, but this Tweet has for some reason been deleted. His son also Tweeted the arrest. As a matter of fact, his son's Twitter feed may be the best way to stay up to date about what's happening to Al-Yousif. He's been keeping well-wishers in the know all day, mentioning that phone and internet connections for their house were cut off and then restored, and that al-Youssef called from prison to say that he was being treated as "a guest" and that he did not want the world to make a big deal out of it. Al-Yousif has now been detained for a litle over 24 hours.
After the government brought in forces from Saudi Arabia to quell unrest, protest on the street has ebbed and been overshadowed by tensions between Shiites and Sunnis. The government is, in addition to the Saudi tanks, taking the tack of ratcheting up the sectarianism in order to subdue the the protest movement -most protesters are Shiite. and they are working hard to exacerbate anti-Shiite sentiments. "Bahrain today is a fearful abode of sectarian division, fueled largely by the Sunni-led government’s violent suppression of a once euphoric protest movement, and a campaign of Shiite intimidation that is both pitiless and petty," reports Global Post.
Al-Youssef, the founder of a campaign called Just Bahraini, is a well known activist against sectarianism.
