Bahrain releases female blogger pending trial forceably
\n(AFP) \u2013 6 hours ago <\/p>\n
MANAMA \u2014 Bahraini authorities on Tuesday ordered the release on bail of Shiite female blogger Zainab al-Khawaja, whose rough arrest was exposed worldwide through YouTube.<\/p>\n
The public prosecutor decided to release Khawaja and Maasuma al-Sayed, pending trial on charges of “taking part in (illegal) assemblies on Budaiya highway and assaulting a female police officer”, BNA state news agency said.<\/p>\n
It said a lawsuit was being prepared to bring the two women to the criminal court.<\/p>\n
But the two women have so far refused to leave prison, insisting on taking out with them another woman whom they found in custody, according to Mohammed al-Maskati, head of the Bahrain Youth Society for Human Rights.<\/p>\n
He said that the woman, Fathia Abdali Hayat, was arrested in September and accused of sheltering protesters, and the two others found her behind bars at Issa Town police station.<\/p>\n
One of several video clips showing Khawaja’s arrest generated nearly 173,000 hits since Thursday. It showed the Shiite activist refusing to stand up and leave a roundabout following a sit-in that was dispersed by police.<\/p>\n
The footage showed her being handcuffed by a policewoman.<\/p>\n
Another female member of the security forces appears to grab Khawaja’s face violently, before both then dragged her to a police vehicle.<\/p>\n
One of the policewomen can be seen punching Khawaja in the chest as she lay on her back on the pavement.<\/p>\n
The mother of a one-year-old child and whose husband Wafi al-Majed is in prison along with her father, leading opponent Abdulhadi al-Khawaja, Zainab al-Khawaja is known on the social network Twitter as “Angry Arabiya.”<\/p>\n
She tweeted from the roundabout before her arrest, saying she was chanting “Down, down (King) Hamad” and that a “few girls” have joined her while “riot police don’t seem to know what to do.”<\/p>\n
Shiite youth groups had called for a series of consecutive protests on the highway which links Shiite villages with Manama’s former Pearl Square, the focal point of a month-long pro-democracy uprising that was crushed in March. …source<\/a><\/p>\n