11 November 2011
By: By Nisha Thanki
VIENNA, 11 Nov. 2011 – Jaffer al-Alawai, a prominent journalist, blogger and poet, was arrested on 8 November. He was released after spending over 24 hours in custody. It is still unclear why he was arrested and whether he will be formally charged. Al-Alawai previously worked as an anchor for the Bahrain Radio and Television Corporation, the state-controlled, sole television channel in Bahrain. Previously this year, al-Alawai was dismissed from his position there along with many other journalists. He is now well known for his poetry, which he tweets, and for being the leader of a youth group called Taa AlShabab.
11 November 2011
By: By Nisha Thanki
VIENNA, 11 Nov. 2011 – Jaffer al-Alawai, a prominent journalist, blogger and poet, was arrested on 8 November. He was released after spending over 24 hours in custody. It is still unclear why he was arrested and whether he will be formally charged. Al-Alawai previously worked as an anchor for the Bahrain Radio and Television Corporation, the state-controlled, sole television channel in Bahrain. Previously this year, al-Alawai was dismissed from his position there along with many other journalists. He is now well known for his poetry, which he tweets, and for being the leader of a youth group called Taa AlShabab.
On 8 November, al-Alawai’s house in Boori was surrounded by armed forces and subsequently searched. It followed an incident in which some protesters cut through his house during a protest. He was summoned to the police station in Hamad Town to be interrogated.
Mr al-Alawai has written on Twitter since that he was not ill-treated during his time in custody nor was he asked about his writing. It remains unclear why al-Alawai was held for 24 hours.
Gamal Eid, the executive director of the Arabic Network for Human Rights Information, said: “Like many Bahraini journalists, he is a victim of the government campaign of retribution. Not only is he a victim of the government, but also a victim of the Saudi Arabian and American retaliation campaign.” There was no mention of al-Alawai’s arrest in any local newspapers.
The case of al-Alawai follows the intimidation of a number of journalists and bloggers. The Bahrain Centre for Human Rights “fears that his detention is due to (his) being a media professional who has expressed views in support of democracy”. There has been a wave of dismissals from the state television this year, which is thought to be based on religious and political affiliations. The accounts of threats and harassment against journalists in Bahrain have been disturbing.
Earlier this year IPI reported on the cases of two journalists who were arrested and tortured to death. Karim Fakhrawi, creator of Al-Wasat newspaper, was detained in March 2011. Authorities claimed that he died from kidney failure, yet his body showed clear signs of torture.
In a similar case, Zakariya Rashid Hassan al-Ashiri, a writer for a local news website, died whilst in police custody. According to official reports he died from sickle cell anaemia although there were clear indications of torture. Both al-Ashiri and Fakhrawi were accused of spreading false information and both journalists died under mysterious circumstances.
More and more journalists are being arrested or taken to court in Bahrain, as the government seeks to control freedom of expression and deter journalists from being critical about the government.
“We are concerned for the safety of journalists in Bahrain, who face an ever-increasing environment of harassment and intimidation,” said Alison Bethel McKenzie, the Executive Director of IPI. “We insist that the Bahraini government allow journalists to work without fear.”
freemedia.at
