Mahmood Al‐Yousif

Mahmood Al‐Yousif

Middle East & North Africa, Bahrain, 2012

A prominent Bahraini blogger, Mahmood Al‐Yousif was detained on March 30th after a last tweet, “police here for me.” Released on April 1st, he posted on his popular blog, Mahmood’s Den, his appreciation of the support from readers and concern about unsubstantiated accusations against him and other journalists amid the political turmoil in his country. Originally trained as an aircraft maintenance engineer, he became a pioneering online journalist and technology innovator. He owns a video production company, Gulf Broadcast, and blogs on widely ranging subjects from police intimidation in Bahrain to stories about his everyday family life as the father of three. In 2006, he launched the JustBahraini online campaign against sectarianism, and has worked widely to foster freedom of speech, including on the internet.