New York, March 30, 2011–A CNN crew was detained today in Manama while interviewing a prominent Bahraini human rights defender, according to a Twitter posting by the network and a CPJ interview. The detentions come amid a recent series of repressive actions by the Bahraini government, which included today’s arrest of a well-known blogger. Anti-press actions were also reported in Egypt, Syria, and Libya, CPJ research shows.
New York, March 30, 2011–A CNN crew was detained today in Manama while interviewing a prominent Bahraini human rights defender, according to a Twitter posting by the network and a CPJ interview. The detentions come amid a recent series of repressive actions by the Bahraini government, which included today’s arrest of a well-known blogger. Anti-press actions were also reported in Egypt, Syria, and Libya, CPJ research shows.
CNN tweeted this evening from Bahrain that a crew had been detained at the home of Nabeel Rajab, president of the Bahrain Center for Human Rights. Rajab told CPJ that the crew included CNN journalists Scott Bronstein and Taryn Fixel, along with an unidentified cameraman. He said a fourth journalist, an unidentified documentary filmmaker, was also detained.
Rajab said masked men in seven police cars descended on his home. “They pushed me against the wall, insulted me and ordered me not to say a word,” Rajab told CPJ. “Then they proceeded to ask the journalists who they worked for and told them that they would be taken for interrogation.” The journalists were freed hours later, a CNN spokesman said.
Prominent Bahraini blogger Mahmood al-Yousif was also detained today, according to a local journalist and the blogger’s brother. On his blog, al-Yousif regularly wrote about Bahraini politics, society, and recent demonstrations. Police arrested al-Yousif at his home around 3 a.m., according to his brother, Jamal,who posted details on Twitter.
Al-Yousif was among the first journalistic bloggers in Bahrain, according to CPJ research. He was also the administrator of JustBahraini, a website that featured a campaign against sectarianism and was closed by the government in 2009, according to Jillian York, a U.S.-based blogger and Internet freedom advocate.
“We call on Bahraini authorities to release our detained colleagues without delay,” said Mohamed Abdel Dayem, CPJ’s Middle East and North Africa program coordinator. “Government officials must recognize that journalists don’t create unflattering news; they simply report it.”
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