Saudi Activist Mr. Walid Salis
2 October 2010
The Bahrain Center for Human Rights (BCHR) expresses its deep concern about the immense and rapid deterioration in public freedom in Bahrain, specifically in freedom of opinion and expression, which coincides with the security campaign run by the Bahraini authorities against the critics of the government policies. This is reflected in the withdrawal of publication licenses of almost all political societies: the participating and non-participating-in election alike.
Saudi Activist Mr. Walid Salis
2 October 2010
The Bahrain Center for Human Rights (BCHR) expresses its deep concern about the immense and rapid deterioration in public freedom in Bahrain, specifically in freedom of opinion and expression, which coincides with the security campaign run by the Bahraini authorities against the critics of the government policies. This is reflected in the withdrawal of publication licenses of almost all political societies: the participating and non-participating-in election alike.
On 30 September, 2010, Information Affairs Authority withdrew the publication licenses[1] of both the Islamic Action Society and Al-Menbar Progressive Democratic on the pretext that they “have failed to abide by the pre-set limits, distributing large copies outside their premises, encroaching on public places and government facilities”. The authority accused the two societies of “delivering their newsletters to private homes and distributing copies at residential blocs and shopping malls” and that their newsletters included “opinion columns, articles and investigative reports, a flagrant violation of the licensing terms”. The two societies were warned of legal actions taken against them if they violated this resolution. It is worth noting that the Information Affairs Authority had previously summoned those in charge of the publications of four political societies, including the two mentioned above, and threatened them, as an attempt to put pressure on them, to report only on news pertaining to their organizations, and to stop publishing news related to the political and human rights situation in the country. The act against Islamic Action and Al-Menbar Democratic occurred a few days after suspending the newsletters[2] of both Al-Wefaq and Waad societies as well as blocking the electronic websites of both Al-Wefaq and Amal societies.
These violations of freedom of publication and expression, which target the political societies, are taking place because of the societies continually exposing human rights violations. Their publications have also been exposing crimes of corruption, discrimination and political naturalization to change the demographic composition of the country.
It is also worth noting that the law on the regulation of the press followed by the Information Authority is considered one of the restrictive laws which are in contrary to the international standards. There have been continuous demands from many international human rights organizations to amend or abolish such laws[3].
On the other hand, Walid Salis, a 29 year-old Saudi activist, was detained by the security authority at Bahrain Airport for more than 4 hours. He was then released after he was thoroughly searched, and after copying all files and folders from his computer and cell phone, as well as copying all his papers and personal photos. This came after the threats launched by the Bahraini authorities[4] declaring its intention to hunt for the activists from the gulf states, particularly the ones who received training on human rights in Bahrain, or put them on a blacklist to ban them from entering the country. Salis was among a large group of activists from the Gulf States who received courses on human rights at some time in Bahrain.
The Bahrain Centre for Human Rights reiterates its call to the Government of Bahrain and the parties concerned, including associations, local and international organizations, to pressure the Bahraini authorities to commit to the following:
1. To Stop harassment of Bahraini and Gulf human rights defenders.
2. Immediate cessation of the organized campaign against freedom of opinion and expression, and transmission of information.
3. To lift ban imposed on publications of political parties.
4. To withdraw all actions that would restrict freedom of opinion and expression, or prevent the transmission of information.
5. To amend the Press Law No. 47 of 2002 and make it in line with the international standards of human rights.
6. To treat the root causes of the problem and decrease tension by starting a serious and sincere political reform process to solve the outstanding issues related to civil, political, economic, social and cultural rights.
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[1]alwasatnews.com/2947
bahrainrights.org
[3]cpj.org and freedomhouse.org
[4]bahrainrights.org