DUBAI: United Arab Emirates authorities jailed a political activist who criticized one of the Gulf country's rulers on his Twitter account, a prominent Emirati blogger said. Ahmed Mansour reported that security agents detained the activist, Mohammed Abdel-Razzaq al-Siddiq, in the pre-dawn hours on Sunday. He was taken from his home in the emirate of Sharjah and released on bail the same day, Mansour said. The arrest was the latest move by the UAE to crack down on political dissent. The UAE has not seen fallout from the Arab Spring. This is not an accident, as authorities have been aggressive and immediate in quashing dissent. Political activity is severely restricted in the federation of Gulf emirates. Political parties are banned. In the past few weeks, three other people were detained for posting on social media websites. All are free on bail. Last year, five political activists, including blogger Mansour, were convicted on anti-state charges that included insulting the UAE's leadership, endangering national security and inciting people to protest. They were freed on order of the federation's president a day after their sentences of two to three years in jail were handed down. Despite the order, charges against were never officially dropped. All the convicted activists had signed an online petition calling on UAE rulers to allow free elections and changes to the constitution that would give more powers to the parliament, which now serves as an advisory body. BM ShortURL: http://goo.gl/J658T Tags: Arab, Blogger, Jailed, Spring, UAE Section: Gulf, Latest News, Media, United Arab Emirates
