Blocked websites, banning of political publications, withdrawal of citizenship of religious figure, and attack on a mosque
22nd September 2010
The Bahrain Center for Human Rights (BCHR), expresses deep concern about the immense and rapid deterioration in public freedom in Bahrain, specifically in the freedom of opinion and expression. In the past few days licenses of printed publications were withdrawn from two political organizations, more websites have been blocked, Sheikh AbdulJalil Almuqdad who holds anti-government views has been prevented from giving sermons, the citizenship of Sheikh Najati and his family has been revoked because of his political positions, moreover two groups who share national news on the blackberry and the web have been stopped. Most of these violations happened in the last 24 hours in a fierce attack that aims at silencing all those who oppose government policies.
Blocked websites, banning of political publications, withdrawal of citizenship of religious figure, and attack on a mosque
22nd September 2010
The Bahrain Center for Human Rights (BCHR), expresses deep concern about the immense and rapid deterioration in public freedom in Bahrain, specifically in the freedom of opinion and expression. In the past few days licenses of printed publications were withdrawn from two political organizations, more websites have been blocked, Sheikh AbdulJalil Almuqdad who holds anti-government views has been prevented from giving sermons, the citizenship of Sheikh Najati and his family has been revoked because of his political positions, moreover two groups who share national news on the blackberry and the web have been stopped. Most of these violations happened in the last 24 hours in a fierce attack that aims at silencing all those who oppose government policies.
Political Societies under liberty restricting laws
On the 19th of September, the Public Information Department withdrew the license[1] for “The Democrat” which is the monthly publication of the society of Waad and the license of “AlWefaq” which is the weekly publication of the largest political society in Bahrain, AlWefaq. The justification given is that “these publications work on misleading public opinion, insulting names and persons and defaming them, and the publication of many false topics that aim at discrimination, sectarianism and to stir the public, as well as containing inflammatory titles and topics that do not serve the public interest in the kingdom.” The same department had previously called upon[2] and threatened those in charge of the publications of four political societies amongst them Waad and Alwefaq, attempting to put pressure on them to make their publications only about the news of their organizations and to stop publishing news that are related to the political and human rights situation in the country. At the same time a warning has been directed at the Islamic society about their publication and it is expected that their license will be withdrawn soon. The Department has also previously closed the Alwafeq[3] and the Islamic Society websites.
These violations of freedom of publication and expression which target political societies come as a result of the latter continually exposing the violations committed by the authorities towards the rights of citizens and the attacks on activists under the pretext of waging a war on terror. The publications have also been exposing crimes of corruption, discrimination, and political naturalization to change the demographic makeup in the country. The withdrawal of publication licenses has come at the same time that these societies were to begin their election campaigns for their candidates; this is an attempt to weaken these candidates, make it more difficult to reach their constituents, meanwhile strengthening their competitors, the government candidates. It is worth noting that the law on the organization of press which the actions of Department of Public Information were based on is one of the laws which restrict public liberties and conflicts with the relevant international standards, and there have been continuous demands from many international human rights organizations[4] to amend or cancel this law .
Targeting clerics and the hegemony over religious platforms
Moreover, on the 19th of September, the Ministry of Justice and Islamic Affairs prevented the cleric Abdul Jaleel Almuqdad from publicly speaking for two weeks starting Friday the 24th of September. This cleric is known for his honest criticism of the authorities concerning issues of prisoners, freedoms and democracy, and he is also known to be affiliated with the Alwafaa opposition movement. The justification given by the ministry was that this decision came “as a result of violations committed by Almuqdad in his last sermon, which entails a threat to national peace, and the blatant meddling in the work of law enforcement and disrespect for the judicial proceedings, as well as violating the ethics of religious sermons”. In his last sermon Almuqdad criticized the deterioration of human rights conditions in the country and the torture of activists and cleric, their defamation in the media before being convicted by the judicial system, being denied their civil rights and being suspended from their jobs[5].
On Friday the 24th of September the mosque Almuqdad was supposed to speak in was attacked, worshippers were attacked with rubber bullets and tear gas, and some were arrested, between them: Hussain Qambar Alomar (29 years), Ja’afar Abullah AlOmar (36 years), Ahmed AbduAli AlOmar (28 years), and Ahmed Marhoon AlOmar (55 years).
This prevention comes as a part of a campaign that aims to control religious platforms and subject them to government control. The campaign was initiated with a request that came in the month of Ramadan in a televised speech by the king[6] , and it was supported by his son the Crown prince Shaikh Salman Bin Hamad Alkhalifa and his uncle the prime minister Khalifa Bin Salman Alkhalifa. The BCHR has reason to believe that this campaign is a part of a policy to silence the voices of opposition and to confiscate freedoms. This specific decision is an interference in the authority of the Mosques and the freedom of the orator, especially in raising issues of freedom and human rights. Moreover, it seeks to transform the religious platforms into a political tool to be used by the authorities to propagate their own concepts to the people, specifically the concept of submitting to the government and keeping silent about the abuses and violations, meanwhile prohibiting the issues of human rights and political affairs.
Revoking citizenship to silence opposition
On the 19th of September, in a sharp and shocking escalation in the policy of silencing opposition, the authorities revoked the citizenship of Sheikh Hussain AlNajati and his family[7] through the Ministry of Interior Affairs. The governments justification for the decision to revoke his citizenship is that “Sheikh Najati, who is in his fifth decade of his age, and his wife and children got their Bahraini passports in violation of the provisions of nationality and passport laws”[8], it was not clarified what kind of violation had been committed. The following day they contradicted themselves by claiming that “AlNajati and his family never really got a Bahraini citizenship” , it is known that Sheikh AlNajati was born in the city of Muharraq in Bahrain and had received the Bahraini nationality in accordance with the law, and he is one of the people who returned to Bahrain in 2001 after years of forced exile. AlNajati is known for his positions on human rights and political issues, most important amongst them being to postpone Friday prayers in protest against the law of political associations which restricts political activity, AlNajati described the passing of the Association law as a clear “violation” of the rights of political associations in the country. AlNajati had also supervised the negotiations that took place between government officials and members of the victims of torture committee which did not result in any agreements. Moreover, AlNajati was one of the clerics who signed the “senior religious scholars”[9] statement, which was recently issued calling on the king to take an “initiative of sincere salvage” to calm the current security conditions.
Bahraini law does not permit the withdrawal of citizenship after acquiring it, except in the case of high treason, and other exceptions mentioned in the law which do not apply in the case of AlNajati.
The BCHR believes that this dangerous escalation aims to increase the fear felt by opposition, specifically clerics. It also serves as a veiled threat of the possibility of arbitrarily revoking the citizenships of activists and clerics of Persian decent if they continue their political or human rights activity which opposes the government. What is equally disturbing is that the authorities are granting citizenship to tens of thousands of people from some Arabic and Asian countries based on sectarian and tribal preferences, proving the exploitation of their authority, meanwhile revoking the citizenship of a citizen who was born and raised in Bahrain, and threatening others of revoking their citizenship for discriminative sectarian reasons.
The closure of more websites and the banning of broadcasts
The closure of websites and banning of broadcasts continue, amongst those is the website of the political and human rights activist Abdulwahab Hussain, one of the leaders of the AlWafaa opposition group. Abdulwahab recently hosted a sit-in for the families of prisoners in his own home. The sit-in also included human rights activists and lawyers, the events of the sit-in were continuously being broadcasted on his website. “Group Mohannad” and “Breaking News”, which broadcast national news through the blackberry and some Twitter and Facebook groups have also been banned.[10]
The Legitimacy and fate of the security crackdown
This fierce campaign on freedom of expression and publication conflicts with Bahrain’s position as a member of the Human Rights Council, and its professed respect for the freedom of opinion and expression. It also contradicts Article 19 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights which was ratified by Bahrain, which states that “Everyone shall have the right to freedom of expression; this right shall include freedom to seek, receive and impart information and ideas of all kinds, regardless of frontiers, either orally, in writing or in print, in the form of art, or through any other media of his choice.” Moreover, this campaign contradicts with the freedom of religious belief.
The BCHR reiterates its call to the government of Bahrain and other concerned bodies including national and international associations and organizations, to pursue the Bahraini authorities and to make the following appeals:
1. The immediate cessation of the campaign on the freedom of expression and publishing.
2. To lift the ban on the publications of political societies, and allow their publishing and distribution.
3. To lift the ban on the public speaking of Sheikh Abdul Jalil AlMuqdad and to stop targeting religious platforms and confiscating religious freedoms from preachers.
4. To undo the withdrawal of AlNajati and his family’s citizenship, and to stop the intimidation of opponents using policies that contradict with constitutional provisions and international standards of human rights.
5. To unblock all the public websites which have been blocked before and in the latest security campaign.
6. To cancel all the proceedings which restrict freedom of opinion and expression or prevent the transmission of information.
7. To accomplish Bahrain’s international commitments and respect all forms of freedom of expression and publication as stipulated in international charters and conventions.
8. To amend press law number 47 from 2002 and make it in line with international standards of human rights.
9. To find a solution to the root of the problems and treat the causes of tension by beginning a process of a serious and sincere political reform and by resolving the human rights files which are related to civil, political, economic social and cultural rights.
10. To stop chasing and harassing human rights defenders and provide the appropriate legal and practical environment for their activity in accordance with the International Declaration on Human Rights Defenders.
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[2]alwasatnews.com/2918
[3]http://www.bahrainrights.org/ar/node/3365
[4]Freedom House and CPJ
[5]http://bahrainonline.org/showpost.php?p=1988560&postcount=4
[6]http://www.aljazeera.net
[7]alwasatnews.com/2936
[8]alwasatnews.com/2937
[9]manamavoice.com
[10]http://www.bna.bh/?ID=174536