"He's a writer, he's a journalist, he's a blogger. Ali does not belong to any political party. He just writes his opinion."

Jenan Al Oraibi's dark eyes flash beneath her black hijab. She is speaking of her husband Ali Abdulemam, known as the Bahraini Blogger.

We are talking in the home of her friends in a village close to Manama, the capital city of this Gulf island kingdom, which projects itself as an Arab state that is open to investment, progressive about change and moving confidently toward democracy.

"Ali has a free pen. That is exactly his crime. He has a free pen," she says bluntly.

Ali Abdulemam is 32 years old. He worked as an IT specialist for the Bahraini airline Gulf Air. In his spare time he blogged.

But he was sacked from the airline after he was arrested in September and accused of being part of a terror organisation.

He was charged with spreading false information and linked to a group of Bahraini oppositionists who had been arrested in August.