REUTERS AFRICA: DUBAI - Bahrain released a prominent blogger but detained several people, including a pro-opposition doctor, the latest in a series of arrests since the kingdom's crackdown on street protests, opposition sources said on Friday.
The tiny island's Sunni rulers have stepped up arrests of cyber activists and Shi'ites, with more than 300 detained and dozens missing since the crackdown on pro-democracy protests earlier this month.
It imposed martial law and called in troops from fellow Sunni-ruled neighbours, including Saudi Arabia, to quell the protest movement led mostly by the state's Shi'ite majority.
More than 60 percent of Bahrainis are Shi'ites and most want a constitutional monarchy.
Mattar Ibrahim Mattar, a member of Bahrain's largest Shi'ite opposition group, Wefaq, said the party's official arrest count was 329 by Thursday, but that the real number was likely to be over 400.
He said at least 20 people had been detained on Thursday and 31 were missing. It was unclear if those people were in hiding or had been abducted. » | Writing by Erika Solomon; Editing by Nick Macfie | Friday, April 01, 2011
PEOPLE’S DAILY ONLINE: Bahrain's blogfather released: Bahrain's blogfather Mahmood Al Yousif was released Thursday night after he was arrested by Bahraini authorities a day earlier. » | Source: Xinhua | Friday, April 01, 2011
