21-23 March 2011
BAHRAIN
Ali Abdulemam, a blogger who was freed on 22 February after several months in prison, was arrested again on 17 March amid a continuing crackdown on human rights activists. After being set free again, he went into hiding to avoid further arrest. The BBC said his wife, who was very outspoken during his months in detention, is now refusing to give interviews for fear of reprisals (http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-12796892). Abdulemam was one of the nominees for this year’s Netizen Prize, which Reporters Without Borders awards with support from Google. The prize went to the Tunisian website Nawaat.
21-23 March 2011
BAHRAIN
Ali Abdulemam, a blogger who was freed on 22 February after several months in prison, was arrested again on 17 March amid a continuing crackdown on human rights activists. After being set free again, he went into hiding to avoid further arrest. The BBC said his wife, who was very outspoken during his months in detention, is now refusing to give interviews for fear of reprisals (http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-12796892). Abdulemam was one of the nominees for this year’s Netizen Prize, which Reporters Without Borders awards with support from Google. The prize went to the Tunisian website Nawaat.
Abdeljalil Al-Singace, a blogger who like Abdulemam and 21 other human rights activists and government opponents was detained from September to February, was also reportedly arrested again on 17 March. The head of the pro-democracy and civil liberties movement Al Haq, Singace was previously arrested in 2009 for allegedly trying to destabilise the government because he used his blog (http://alsingace.katib.org) to denounce the deplorable state of civil liberties and discrimination against Bahrain’s Shiite population.
Nabeel Rajab, the head of the Bahrain Centre for Human Rights, was abducted from his home at about 1:30 a.m. yesterday by about 40 individuals who threatened him and beat him before finally releasing him several hours later. Rajab had been giving interviews to international news media about the government’s use of violence to disperse protests and indiscriminate killings by the armed forces (http://bahrainrights.hopto.org/en/node/3825).
CBS journalist Toula Vlahou was travelling in a car with a colleague on 19 March when riot police fired on them using shotgun pellets. Watch the video in which she tried to get an explanation from foreign minister Sheikh Khalid ibn Ahmad Al Khalifa: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dpxSPY5ZPCM
23 March 2011
The Telecommunications Regulatory Authority (TRA) announced yesterday that it has withdrawn the licences of 2 Connect, a local telecommunications company and Internet service provider run by Ibrahim Sharif, the head of the opposition party Waad, who was arrested last week. The TRA gave no reason for the decision, which will take effect on 27 March. It just warned 2 Connect clients that they have until then to switch to another ISP.
A message posted on the blog of the journalist Lamees Dhaif says there has been no news of her since 15 March (http://www.lamees.org/articles1/p2_articleid/374).
rsf.org 21 March
rsf.org 23 March
