Ali Abdulemam is a leading Bahraini blogger and Global Voices Advocacy author, and founder of Bahrain’s popular BahrainOnline forum. He a pioneer among Arab activists, using the internet to militate for peaceful reform. He inspired many young Bahrainis and Arabs to use the internet to express themselves and engage in spirited debate.

Ali is a free-thinker, a father of three children, and more importantly the kind of voices for reform the West has been eager to see emerge in the region. His arrest is yet another blow to a growing movement for civil rights reform across the region. I hope he will not be forgotten like many other young Arabs whose only crime is to want to have a voice.

Ali is looking for change. The change Ali believed in is not impossible and is not diabolical. Ali wanted to give the people the chance to express thier feeling and dreams, to discuss and negotiate, to correct each other mistakes and to learn to respect each other. That was his project in Bahrain in online forum more than 10 years ago.

Abdulemam joins tens, possibly hundreds, more apprehended Bahrainis all accused or charged with some malicious intent against the ruling regime. According to most operating human rights organisations in the country, they have had their rights violated and some even went as far as accusing the security services of applying systemic torture on some of those incarcerated. I fear that this latest development further degrades the country’s reputation and gives some credence to the charges of it being an enemy of freedom of expression and that of human rights too.

Mi amigo, el bloguero de Bahrain Alí Abduleman, fue arrestado por “difundir información falsa”, una tendencia que se esparce peligrosamente en todos los rincones del mundo, ante gobiernos represivos que no aceptan la mirada crítica de los ciudadanos. Espero sea liberado pronto, que se respete el debido proceso, que se cuide de su integridad física y no se sea sometido a tratos crueles, inhumanos o degradantes.

Hardly does the sun rises without learning about the arrest of a blogger or online journalist . Examples are abundant Fatma Arabicca , Zouhair Makhlouf , Abdulsalam El Baroudi , etc…

…I hope that Ali will be released soon . I also hope that he will be in a good health.

As I write this, I count my blessings. There are many who on this very day cannot be facing the same. For instance a blogger colleague from Global Voices Ali Abdulemam from Bahrain. He was arrested earlier today by Bharaini authorities for spreading “false news” on his blog which has since been taken down by the authorities. I saw the message this morning and did the little I could – tweeting and posting this on FB. But now that I have time to sit down and think about my own situation its made me think of others who have not been so lucky.