Bahrain detains Qatar sympathizer
DUBAI: Bahraini authorities have detained a citizen for sympathizing with Qatar on social media, the attorney general said Wednesday, after authorities warned that sympathizing with Doha was tantamount to a criminal offense.
The department of cybercrime referred a case to the public prosecutor’s office in which “a person of interest had posted comments to social networks that constitute a violation” of a ban against sympathizing with boycott-hit Qatar, said Attorney General Ahmed Al-Hammadi, head of Bahrain’s Terrorist Crimes Commission.
“The prosecution has begun investigating the matter, and the suspect has been interrogated and is being held in custody,” Al-Hammadi said. Bahrain’s strict cybercrime law prohibits the expression of dissent online, including via social media.
“Any expression of sympathy with the government of Qatar or opposition to the measures taken by the government of Bahrain, whether through social media, Twitter or any other form of communication, is a criminal offense punishable by up to five years in prison and a fine,” the Interior Ministry said last week.
Meanwhile, the standoff is creating unease among Syrian opposition fighters who expect the crisis between two of their biggest state backers to deepen divisions in the opposition to President Bashar Assad.
“God forbid if this crisis is not contained I predict... the situation in Syria will become tragic because the factions that are supported by (different) countries will be forced to take hostile positions toward each other,” said Mustafa Sejari of the Liwa Al-Mutasem opposition group in northern Syria. “We urge our brothers in Saudi Arabia and Qatar not to burden the Syrian people more than they can bear.”
An opposition source familiar with foreign support to the opposition fighters said: “It will increase the split between north and south, as the north is mainly funded by Qatar and Turkey, and the south is supported by Jordan and the (US-led) coalition.”
A senior opposition official said the crisis “will certainly affect us, people are known to be with Saudi, or Qatar, or Turkey. The split is clear.”