Rajab, director of the Gulf Center for Human Rights (GCHR) and co-founder of Bahrain Center for Human Rights (BCHR), was summoned for questioning by the cyber crimes unit at the Criminal Investigation Directorate, Al-Akhbar reported.
A letter from the GCHR staff and Advisory Board members said the investigation, which lasted for 45 minutes, evolved around "tweets posted on his Twitter account that denigrated government institutions".
Rajab was kept in detention and will be referred today to the Public Prosecution for further questioning.
According to the BCHR, "the summon and arrest come less than 24 hours after the arrival of Rajab to Bahrain from an advocacy trip where he has spent over two months traveling throughout Europe to advocate for human rights in Bahrain".
He was also present at the "UN Human Rights Council 27th Sessions advocating for human rights in Bahrain and campaigned for greater support to the Bahraini people’s struggle for rights and democracy," the center added.
Earlier this month, Amnesty International mentioned Rajab in a report about the significance of social media for Bahraini activists as it is, according to the report, "a very important tool in the fight for freedom".
Right before Rajab went into questioning, he was live tweeting about his incident. Once he got inside, his friend took over and started tweeting on Rajab’s behalf.
This is not the first time Rajab is detained. He was released in May this year after serving a two-year jail sentence for his role in pro-democracy protests in the US-allied kingdom.
Rajab rose to prominence after campaigning against a crackdown on demonstrations. He is regarded as a hero among ordinary Bahrainis, with his portrait plastered on walls across the country alongside other political prisoners including Abdulhadi al-Khawaja, BCHR’s other co-founder, who was sentenced to life in jail for "plotting to overthrow" the dictatorship.
