Thursday, March 31, 2011

Bahraini police arrested my brother for blogging

Mahmood is a passionate defender of peaceful protest and human rights – and for that he is being 'kept as a guest' by police

Hani AlYousif

guardian.co.uk
, Thursday 31 March 2011

"At 3am on Wednesday morning they came to arrest my brother, Mahmood, at his home. His son Arif witnessed the arrest by Bahraini police who claimed to have a warrant. His crime was nothing more than trying to promote dialogue between the protesters and government of Bahrain. Mahmood al-Yousif is a prominent blogger back home. They call him the Blogfather because his was one of the first such websites in Bahrain. Since people started demonstrating against the government on 14 February he had been consistently advocating dialogue and peaceful protest.....

Mahmood did manage to make one call after his arrest. He spoke with his son to tell him that he was being "kept as a guest" and not to make a big deal of it. However, he has no access to legal advice, no contact with his family and probably no idea how long he is to be held. We don't know that either and we are very worried for his safety."

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