Egypt: New media restrictions announced

September 14th, 2011

Egypt’s SCAF announced on Saturday it will enforce the Emergency Law, which allows civilians, including journalists, to be tried in state security courts and detained indefinitely. The announcement came despite the military’s commitment to annul the law by September, a core demand of the revolution. Under the law, security officials would be allowed to take “legal procedures” to suppress acts of “thuggery” and may use “all legal powers to safeguard the country’s security”. Meanwhile, Al-Jazeera reported that Egyptian police raided the offices of a broadcaster it is affiliated with on Sunday, shutting down their live, round-the-clock broadcasts from Cairo.

Bahrain: Human rights activist missing

June 1st, 2011

Human rights activist, Nabeel Rajab, was summoned to a military court just hours before Bahrain was due to lift its emergency law. He is now missing. Rajab is president of the Bahrain Center for Human Rights (BCHR). Bahrain’s state of emergency was lifted today, introduced almost three months ago, the emergency law coincided with the arrival of over 1, 000 Saudi troops who were called to crush largely peaceful Shiite protests.