While the country celebrates the culture festival, “Ta’a AlShabab”: the murder of two journalists passed without accountability, dozens of journalists were sacked from their jobs and subjected to arrest, torture, military and civil trials, and several others had to flee the country.
September 11, 2011
Bahrain Center for Human Rights, in cooperation with the Bahraini Press Association, launched an appeal, through its website, to the writers and authors participating in the “Ta’a AlShaba / We all read” festival to review the human rights situation, particularly those related to the freedom of expression and publication, in Bahrain before confirming their participation in the festival. It made a reference in the appeal to the many and continuous attacks on Bahraini journalists and writers who are being arrested, tried before military courts, dismissed from their jobs, and forced to immigrate at times when the country arranges for official cultural festivals without their participation,
While the country celebrates the culture festival, “Ta’a AlShabab”: the murder of two journalists passed without accountability, dozens of journalists were sacked from their jobs and subjected to arrest, torture, military and civil trials, and several others had to flee the country.
September 11, 2011
Bahrain Center for Human Rights, in cooperation with the Bahraini Press Association, launched an appeal, through its website, to the writers and authors participating in the “Ta’a AlShaba / We all read” festival to review the human rights situation, particularly those related to the freedom of expression and publication, in Bahrain before confirming their participation in the festival. It made a reference in the appeal to the many and continuous attacks on Bahraini journalists and writers who are being arrested, tried before military courts, dismissed from their jobs, and forced to immigrate at times when the country arranges for official cultural festivals without their participation, which do not contribute in any way, to the reinforcement of the freedom of expression except through drawing a false picture about the situation in Bahrain . The Center and the Association demanded the participating writers to show solidarity with their fellow Bahraini authors and journalists and send a clear message, that unless Bahraini authorities open an investigation about the death of two journalists, stop unfair trials against writers who express their views, and drop the charges issued against some of them, and unless there is a real improvement to the climate of freedom of expression in Bahrain, they will not be able to participate in festivals, that only contribute to creating a false picture about reality of freedom of expression in Bahrain
The full text of the appeal
Gentlemen, Distinguished writers participating in the “Ta’a AlShaba/ We all read,” festival, which is taking place in Bahrain this September,
We invite you to review the situation of human rights, particularly those related to the freedom of expression and publication in Bahrain, harassment and attacks, which affected and still Bahraini writers, before confirming your acceptance of the invitation to participate in the festival. Over the past year and in recent months, particularly since Saudi troops entered Bahrain last March to participate in the biggest crackdown the country has witnessed ever, which took the lives of more than 35 people, the last of which happened few days ago, and resulted in arresting more than 1,500 citizens, houses of worship were demolished as well as heritage buildings, some of which existed for more than 400 years, Bahrain Centre managed to document more than 90 cases of attacks on Bahraini writers, journalists, and bloggers, including defamation, threats, dismissal from work, illegal interrogation and detention, torture, prosecution, military trials, and death under torture. Attacks have spread to include many of foreign journalists who can no longer do their work freely in Bahrain. Many of these attack cases were carried with the knowledge of officials of the Ministry of Culture who is organizing the festival which you are participating in today.
We believe that this is not the right time well-known writers and people with influence like yourselves to take part in giving legitimacy to the regime, who is continuing to violate freedom of expression and publication in Bahrain, by accepting its invitation to participate in a festival that only contribute to draw unrealistic and false picture about the situation of the freedom of expression in Bahrain.
In September, it’s been five months since the murder of the publisher of books and one of the founders of AlWasat newspaper, printing and publishing house, Mr. Karim Fakhrawi, as well as the blogger and activis Zakariya Al Ashiri, both died after being tortured to death in prison only few days after they got arrested last April. Up to this day, no official was held accountable for the murder of Fakhrawi or Al Ashiri, despite than many pictures were published were clearly showing signs of hideous torture, which they were exposed to, and despite the appeals by local and international human rights organizations.
Dozens of writers encountered arrest and detention during recent months for expressing their views, including a researcher and writer Abbas AlMurshed who issued his latest book last February (Bahrain in the Gulf Directory) but he will not be invited to the launch of books in the Reading festival, as he was arrested last May, for about two months, and brought before a military court because of his articles published electronically, and charged of inciting hatred against the regime, a charge which has long been invoked to restrict the freedom of expression in Bahrain. Also the young poet “Ayat Al Qurmozi” was sentenced to one year imprisonment by military court last June and was detained for about four months since last March and was tortured in during detention because writing poems of a political nature, and was forced to apologize on television under torture, before being released last July. While Ali Abdul Imam, the most well-known blogger, and founder of The Forum website (Bahrain Forum), who defended the right to freedom of expression, has received a sentence of 15 years by a military court while he is forced to hide and keep silent after harsh experience of torture in detention he received after being held in September 2010 to February 2011. While the poet and writer Ali Aljallawi published his most recent book (God after 10 O’clock), but it is not certain that his book will be available in local libraries, because of its theme which relates to torture in Bahraini prisons, Aljallawi, who is a former political prisoner, had to seek political asylum in Germany for fear of detention again after delivering a poem in Pearl Square, which has seen massive protests last February. Till day[*], Dr. Maytham Al Salman, author of neural programming books, is still in custody for more than five months and was tried only recently without providing the basic conditions of a fair trial as he was not allowed to meet his lawyer.
In addition, since last March, dozens of journalists, photographers and bloggers, were arrested for varying periods, and have been tortured, mostly by non-humanitarian means, about which some information was published, as happened to the journalist Nazeeha Saeed and journalist Faisal Hyatt, and more than 30 journalists were dismissed from their work, and Many journalists and writers had to leave the country to escape arrest for expressing their views supporting public protests that the country has witnessed. Bahraini writers and bloggers in the country are still facing the possibility of being arrested or prosecuted because of writing their views and opinions which contradicts government’s opinion, in light of the continued crackdown and imposition of military solutions to handle the problems in the country.
The festival, to be held this month, includes seminars about books approved, and coincides to a one year anniversary of banning the distribution of a book by a Bahraini thinker, Nader Kadim (“Uncontrolled Hatreds”) and prevented holding a seminar about the book. The book is still amongst books banned in Bahrain in addition to other books such as the Arabic translation of the diary of the former British Chancellor Charles Belgreive that provides part of the history of Bahrain which has not been documented by any other references.
In light of the ongoing attacks on local journalists, foreign journalists were also prevented from entering the country and residents reporters were expelled like what happened to Reuters reporter, the impact of which, could be no enough media coverage for the horrendous human rights abuses in Bahrain, and therefore not to get the required International pressure to stop such abuses. Thats why even after six months of the start of the crackdown last March, Bahraini people still have to see more cases of killings of unarmed civilians, by the weapons of the security forces, last of which was the murder of the child Ali Jawad Al Sheikh, 14 years old, on the day of Eid.
These are the conditions that your attendance of the festival will add more legitimacy to it, and will contribute to deepening the false picture that things returned back to normal in Bahrain, while devoting the case of violations of freedom of expression in reality.
We urge you as being practitioners of freedom of expression through your writings, to ask you to show solidarity with your Bahraini co-authors who are not allowed to exercise this freedom. We ask you to bring a clear message that unless an investigation is opened about the death of both of the Fakhrawi and Al Ashiri, unfair trials against writers who express their views were stopped, and charges issued against some of them, and unless a real improvement to the climate of freedom of expression takes place in Bahrain, you will not be able to participate in festivals, that only contribute to the creation of false picture about the reality of freedom of expression in Bahrain.
Nabeel Rajab
head of Bahrain Centre for Human Rights
Adel Marzooq
Temporary Chairman of the board of directors of Bahraini Press Association
The centre and the association calls upon all those concerned with human rights to participate in sending this appeal to the writers who are invited to the festival:
Wasini Al A’raj, Algerian novelist, recipient of several international awards, professor in the Central university of Algiers and the Sorbonne university in Paris, writing in Arabic and French, his latest publication “jamlakiya Arabia” documenting in it, the impact of the Arab dictatorships in the distortion of history and society.”
Turki al-Dakhil, a Saudi writer well known on a large scale the Arab world, chosen by Forbes in 2010 as part 100 strongest Arab personalities.
Rubei Al Madhoon, Palestinian immigrant, his fnovel was nominated for the the Arabic Booker Prize.
Amin Saleh, Bahraini novelist, translator and writer of the screenplay. Award-winning local and International prizes.
[*] Dr Maitham AlSalman was released on bail after releasing this appeal, on 12 Sep 2011.