He was detained during Ramadan. Eight days later, his family collected his body.

Sayed Mohammed Al-Mousawi disappeared in Bahrain after leaving a shisha cafe where he broke his Ramadan fast with his cousin and a friend. It was after midnight, in the early hours of March 19. Eight days later, his family received a call to collect his body.

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Images of Al-Mousawi’s body covered in bruises and lesions on his face, feet and torso filled social media.

“The entire body, sir, cannot be described as intact,” a family member said in a statement to human rights investigators shared with NBC News. “He was severely disfigured.”

The images sparked a torrent of confusion and outrage among Bahraini authorities and calls for an investigation. The exact circumstances of Al-Mousawi’s detention remain unclear, but his killing has become a flashpoint in a broader crackdown in the Persian Gulf, in the shadow of the U.S. war against Iran, human rights groups say, in which authorities have made arrests under uncertain circumstances and targeted individuals through social media posts.

Hundreds of people have been arrested in countries across the Gulf region, according to the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, some on allegations of sympathy for Iranian attacks and posting images of Iranian bombings on social media. Often, those arrested are accused of espionage and sent away for a fast-track trial – a move the UN says may lack due process. In Bahrain, it is estimated that more than 200 people have been arrested in similar circumstances. An unknown number has disappeared. Some of those accused of espionage face the death penalty. Governments in the region have long exercised a strong hold on power. Since the start of the war, they have sought to preserve an image of stability and openness to investors.

NBC News reviewed Al-Mousawi’s death certificate, examined photos and videos of his body, consulted with medical professionals and interviewed human rights investigators to examine the circumstances of his death, amid a broader crackdown in the country, according to those investigators.

Al-Mousawi’s case is the first known death in custody apparently linked to such arrests. This illustrates the brutality of the repression and the limits of governments’ powers to control information about the conflict. News of his death became ubiquitous on Telegram, Instagram, X and other platforms, with the same four images shared over and over again. Confusion over the circumstances of his detention gave rise to false theories, sparking further anger.

In an initial statement responding to the images circulating online, Bahrain’s Interior Ministry said Al-Mousawi had been accused of espionage “with the aim of facilitating attacks against the Kingdom”, adding that the matter was under investigation. The ministry called the photos “inaccurate and misleading.” His family has denied the accusations.

The Special Investigation Unit released the results of the investigation on April 16, announcing that it had charged an individual with “assault resulting in death.” Al-Mousawi and others were arrested “pursuant to a legally issued arrest warrant,” authorities said, although they did not clarify the initial reason for the arrest.

“The Special Investigation Unit affirmed its full commitment to fulfill its mandate by exercising all its judicial powers to uphold the rule of law, ensure its implementation and respect human rights, particularly the rights of accused and detainees,” the statement said.

The detentions have made residents hesitant to talk about the war, limited the online availability of crucial evidence of the ongoing conflict, and contributed to a climate of fear about authoritarian governments.

“You have war, bombings and rockets shooting at you, and you don’t have the right to speak,” said Khalid Ibrahim, executive director of the Gulf Center for Human Rights, a nonprofit that tracks the arrests.

The crackdown has extended to members of the press, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists, a nonprofit that tracks media repression around the world. In a landmark case, Kuwaiti American journalist Ahmed Shihab-Eldin is detained on what are believed to be charges of “spreading false information, endangering national security and misusing his cellphone,” said a CPJ statement, which called the charges “vague and overbroad.” Shihab-Eldin, a prolific social media user, previously posted video of an F-15 fighter jet crashing in Kuwait.

Repression has been severe in Bahrain, human rights organizations say. Since the start of the war, authorities have set up checkpoints where residents’ phones can be searched, and the country has monitored online activity.

The importance of the region’s digital media goes beyond freedom of expression. In times of conflict, online images and videos have become essential to combat disinformation and propaganda. From Ukraine to Sudan, he helped investigators gather evidence of war crimes and apparent massacres. In the war against Iran, she played a decisive role in analyzing the consequences of the conflict.

The arrests in Bahrain are partly focused on what authorities say is “misuse of social media platforms,” ​​including posting images of Iranian attacks and supporting Iranian aggression. Authorities did not report specific messages posted by those detained. Others have been arrested without clear charges, leaving their families wondering about their whereabouts, human rights organizations say.

“The war gave them a good opportunity to further silence their own citizens,” Ibrahim said.

This was the case for Al-Mousawi’s family, who did not know what motivated his detention or where he was being held. Al-Mousawi disappeared shortly after 3 a.m. after abruptly ending a phone call with a family member, said Sayed Ahmed Alwadaei, director of the Bahrain Institute for Rights and Democracy (BIRD), which investigated the case.

Al-Mousawi’s family tried unsuccessfully to contact him. But they gained access to his smart watch and tracked his phone to a police station. When they called to see if Al-Mousawi was being held there, they were told no. With public institutions closed for the holiday marking the end of Ramadan, they could do nothing but wait.

Al-Mousawi, a historically oppressed Shiite Muslim, had previously been detained and served about 11 years as a political prisoner following arrests in the region following the Arab Spring, BIRD’s Alwadaei said. He was released in a mass pardon in 2024. Since his release, he has made up for lost time, his family told human rights investigators. He got married and opened his own barbershop.

Al-Mousawi’s family was only informed of his death after arriving at the military hospital where his body was held.

A death certificate obtained by NBC News shows the official cause of death as cardiopulmonary arrest and acute coronary syndrome. Images and videos of the body viewed by medical professionals from the Group of Independent Forensic Experts, led by the International Council for the Rehabilitation of Victims of Torture (IRCT), demonstrate ill-treatment in detention.

IRCT experts could not determine when or how each injury was noted without careful examination of the body, but determined that “the observed pattern is highly consistent with physical mistreatment and is consistent with abuse in a police or detention setting.”

Bahrain’s Interior Ministry did not respond to a request for comment.

The people he was arrested with are still being held in an unknown location, human rights groups say. The UN has called for an investigation.