monitoring a protest in Jidhafs and tweeting about updates In February 2011,
large-scale pro-democracy protests began in Bahrain as part of the international
Arab Spring. Al-Mahafdha is a member of the board of directors at BCHR who participated in the 12 March 2011 march on the
royal palace. Eight days later, his family reported that a group of 25 plainclothes police officers had come to his home at night and searched it, though al-Mahafda himself had been absent. His family was reportedly told that if al-Mahafda did not come to the police station voluntarily, the police officers would return "every night" until he did. BCHR also alleged that security forces were working to block al-Mahafdha's travels. On 5 December 2011, al-Mahafdha, Rajab, and
Mohammed Al-Maskati of the
Bahrain Youth Society for Human Rights were named in a death threat by
Adel Flaifel, a former State Securities Services official, causing the
International Federation for Human Rights and
World Organisation Against Torture to call for an international letter-writing campaign on their behalf. On 6 January 2012, a
stun grenade thrown by security forces injured al-Mahafda's arm during a protest. On 25 January 2012, al-Mahafdha participated in an open seminar organised by
Al Wefaq, Bahrain's main opposition party, in which he criticized the government on freedom of press, suppression of peaceful protests, blocking opposition websites and delaying visits of international human rights organizations. After the arrest of BCHR president
Nabeel Rajab, al-Mahafdha became acting head of the organization. == Arrests==