Bahrain detains Qatar sympathiser

Bahraini authorities have detained a citizen for sympathising with Qatar on social media, the attorney general said on Wednesday, after authorities warned that sympathising with Doha was tantamount to a criminal offence. The department of cyber crime 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 sympathising 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," Hammadi said. Bahrain's strict cyber crime law prohibits the expression of dissent online.