A Year’s Imprisonment for a Citizen on the Charge of Distributing Information that Reveals the Violations Practiced by the Security Apparatuses
08 November 2010
The Bahrain Center for Human Rights expresses its deep concern for the persistent campaign of constraining public liberties and restricting the rights of publishing and expressing opinion. The Authorities recently arrested a citizen (Hassan Abdullah Al-Qassem) and sentenced him with a year in prison on the charge of distributing publications revealing the Authority’s breaches and its violations of human rights.
A Year’s Imprisonment for a Citizen on the Charge of Distributing Information that Reveals the Violations Practiced by the Security Apparatuses
08 November 2010
The Bahrain Center for Human Rights expresses its deep concern for the persistent campaign of constraining public liberties and restricting the rights of publishing and expressing opinion. The Authorities recently arrested a citizen (Hassan Abdullah Al-Qassem) and sentenced him with a year in prison on the charge of distributing publications revealing the Authority’s breaches and its violations of human rights.
Last August, and following the campaign launched by the Authority to arrest the activists and smear their image in the press and media, and following stories spreading about the detainees facing torture in the detention centers and under the local press ban of publishing anything on the case; some individuals distributed publications in both Arabic and English to a number of cars in the large shopping malls, and these publications contained documentations of the Authority’s breaches and its violations of human rights, and it also revealed photos of some of the victims that faced excessive violence and torture used by the Authority towards civilians.
On September 8, 2010 the young Hassan Abdullah Al-Qassem (21 years) was arrested and charged with “distributing leaflets inciting hatred against the regime” as well as “possession of images for distribution and display that would offend the country’s reputation, and that is contrary to the truth and give an inaccurate picture.” On October 27th, 2010, the Fourth Small Criminal Court sentenced the defendant in the case to a year in prison.[1] This trial takes place among the series of arrests and trials that aimed at criminating the human rights work, especially the rights of publication and expressing opinion and working on turning them into criminal cases. There is another trial that began against activists on the charge of distributing images to the media of the incidents that Bahrain is enduring[2]. The BCHR finds that distributing images and news about what is happening in Bahrain cannot be considered a crime in any matter whatsoever, it is rather one of the human rights in expression. It is believed that the Authority is resorting to tackling the media that reveals the violations and is turning to these broad charges as a sort of revenge to anyone who reveals the violations to the outside world. It also expresses the concern the Authority is undergoing from the fact that the image of what is happening locally is reaching international public opinion, after it failed in convincing the world of the motives of the security campaign which it is attempting to promote to justify the deteriorating human rights condition in Bahrain. The Bahraini government imposes a media ban on all news related to what it named “the case of the cell” and the incidents related to it; however, it turns a blind eye to the official news that condemns the detainees and demeans their dignity.
The BCHR considers that arresting and criminating activists on the charge of transmitting photos or contacting foreign media as a blatant violation of the international conventions and covenants related to human rights, especially Article 19 from the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights which states, “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.”
Based on the above, the BCHR demands the Bahraini Authorities the following:
* Immediately release all detainees in the cases related to freedom of publishing and expression and to annul the charges and sentences issued as they contradict the basic principles of human rights in freedom of expression;
* Annul all the procedures that could constrain the freedom of opinion and expression or that could hinder transmitting information;
* Meet its international commitments and respect all forms of freedom of opinion and publishing as stated in the international conventions and covenants.
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[1]alwasatnews.com
[2]Arresting and Torturing Activists due to Transmitting Photos & Info about the Incidents in Bahrain to News Channels & Agencies