Posts Tagged ‘Bahrain’
May 22nd, 2012
A prominent opposition activist
has been fined for insulting a government employee in
Bahrain. Zainab al-Khawaja, daughter of imprisoned activist Abdulhadi al-Khawaja, who has been on
hunger strike for over three months, was
arrested last month after protesting for the release of her father during the Bahrain Grand Prix. Despite being fined 200 dinars ($530), Zainab al-Khawaja remains imprisoned on the charge of attempting to stage a protest. If convicted, the activist faces another charge or imprisonment. The case will be heard on 24 May.
May 21st, 2012
Prominent
Bahraini human rights activist Nabeel Rajab is to remain in prison, despite being
granted bail. Rajab, who was arrested
earlier this month, was granted bail on the charge of “insulting an official authority”, but remains in prison on a second charge of “organising illegal demonstrations”. The Bahrain Center for Human Rights head faces two years in prison if convicted of the second charge. The first charge relates to four posts on Twitter which suggested the interior ministry had not carried out proper investigations into civilian deaths.
May 18th, 2012
A journalist critical of the proposed union between
Bahrain and Saudi Arabia has been
arrested in Manama. Freelance journalist Ahmed Radhi was arrested on Wednesday (16 May), after he appeared on an interview on BBC Arabic Radio, and suggested that the union would justify the presence of Saudi troops in Bahrain. Security forces raided Radhi’s house at 4am in the morning, after the journalist reposted his comments on social media networks. His whereabouts are currently unknown.
May 14th, 2012
According to pro-government
daily Al-Ayam,
Bahrain has now announced plans to prosecute citizens who post video footage from protests, or offer a “distorted” picture of Bahrain’s “renaissance”. Well-known human rights defender and Index award winner
Nabeel Rajab was
recently arrested based on his tweets. His detention
was extended by a week this Saturday, and is also being charged based on protesting as well as his activity on social networking sites.
May 3rd, 2012
The last year has seen tumultuous shifts for media freedom. But core problems still remain in the world’s troublespots, says Padraig Reidy
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Tags: Tags: Azerbaijan, Bahrain, Belarus, censorship, Leveson Inquiry, libel reform, Libya, news of the world, Padraig Reidy, press freedom, Syria, UK, world press freedom day,
April 26th, 2012
Bahrainis still suffer with human rights abuse, torture and political imprisonment, says Sara Yasin. Despite its supporters’ “astonishment”, it’s no wonder that the world was “hostile” to its Grand Prix
This article was originally published in The Telegraph.
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April 23rd, 2012
Index condemns the arrest and deportation of foreign journalists covering demonstrations against the Bahrain Grand Prix this past weekend.
Three journalists from Channel 4, including foreign affairs correspondent Jonathan Miller, were arrested while filming a demonstration on Sunday. The arrest of the journalists, along with a local driver and prominent Bahraini human rights activist was reportedly “aggressive”.
Bahrain’s Information Affairs Authority (IAA) tweeted today that the journalists were in violation of “media rules” for entering the country without accreditation.
International media was given limited access to the country during the controversial race, as journalists from Sky News, Financial Times, CNN, and Reuters were denied entry. According to the Bahrain Centre for Human Rights, Japanese journalists from Asahi Newspaper were detained while covering protests. Local fixers and journalists are also under threat — photojournalist Mazen Mahdi claimed that police threatened to break his camera while covering a protest yesterday. Blogger and activist Mohammed Hasan was arrested and detained on Friday, and arrested once again Sunday with journalist Colin Freeman of the Sunday Telegraph. He was reportedly beaten during his initial arrest.
While the IAA has claimed that it allows the foreign media and workers to monitor ongoing unrest freely, this has not been the case. Journalists and rights workers were barred from entering Bahrain in the time leading up to the anniversary of Bahrain’s unrest, 14 February.
Bahrain should allow foreign media to have unfettered access to the country, and local fixers and activists should not be targeted for working with international journalists.
