Emirati citizen Ghanem Abdullah Mattar was detained hours after posting a series of Snapchat videos expressing sympathy with Qatar.  

Security services arrived at Mattar's home - on July 6 - hours after his recordings were made public and arrested him. In the video series, Mattar said people should "avoid cursing and swearing at Qatar as it is a piece of us." 

He also called on Emiratis not to forget about the times "when Qatar stood by us in the Yemen war."

He also went on to talk about Qatar's position in the entire Gulf crisis.

"Some people lead and others are led. Qatar has proved to us that it cannot be led…It leads its people, but it cannot be led," Mattar said.

Following his arrest, human rights organization Amnesty International called for his immediate release in a tweet that reads: 

"If Mattar was arrested for his peaceful remarks with regards to the Gulf crisis, then he is a prisoner of conscience. We  are calling for his immediate release." 

Following the incident, many took to social media under the hashtag 'Freedom For Emirati Ghanem Abdullah Mattar,' calling for his freedom. 

Others called Mattar out for being a traitor to his homeland. 

"He was brought up on UAE soil, was educated on it ... and then all of a sudden he turns his back and attacks it. What a traitor![...]" - @nasser4556 

In June, Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Bahrain, and Egypt broke diplomatic and economic ties with Qatar, on the backdrop of the country's "support for terrorist groups".  

Following the major diplomatic rift, UAE Attorney General Hamad Saif al-Shamsi made it a criminal offense to express sympathy or support for Qatar via social media. Violators could face up to 15 years of jail time and a fine that could reach $136,000.  

On July 10, newly leaked documents by CNN revealed that Qatar had signed a series of agreements - with the UAE, Bahrain and Saudi Arabia - authorizing them to do what they considered fit to protect their security. 

CNN explained that while the existence of the agreements had been known, the content was previously kept secret "due to the sensitivity of the issues involved and the fact that they were agreed in private by heads of state." 

The provisions of the agreement do not single out Qatar and apply to all countries that signed it. The countries involved in the current blockade on Qatar had previously accused it of not complying with the now disclosed agreement. According to CNN, this could possibly explain what sparked the ongoing Qatari crisis.