ANHRI condemns the conversion of Reem Khalifa from being a victim to a defendant and demands dropping the charges against her.
Cairo, 14 November 2011
The journalist and human rights defender, Reem Khalifa, who writes for Al-Wasat daily, will appear before the Minor Criminal Court in the city of Manama on 16 November 2011, on charges of slander and libel and physical abuse. The charges are trumped up by the Bahraini government as part of its security crackdown on independent media and the opposition.
ANHRI condemns the conversion of Reem Khalifa from being a victim to a defendant and demands dropping the charges against her.
Cairo, 14 November 2011
The journalist and human rights defender, Reem Khalifa, who writes for Al-Wasat daily, will appear before the Minor Criminal Court in the city of Manama on 16 November 2011, on charges of slander and libel and physical abuse. The charges are trumped up by the Bahraini government as part of its security crackdown on independent media and the opposition.
Khalifa is one of the journalists who participated on 14 July 2011 in a press conference that was organized by an Irish delegation to shed light on the issue of the Bahraini medical crew, which was detained in February 2011 and was referred to an exceptional court on fabricated charges on the grounds of providing medical treatment for Bahraini demonstrators. However, the conference was discontinued due to the attack of the Bahraini government supporters. A group of government supporters besieged, attacked, and insulted her as she was leaving the Ramada hotel, in which the conference was held. Afterwards, she filed a lawsuit against the assailants. Not only did the Bahraini judiciary ignore her litigation, but also converted her from a victim to a defendant and referred her to trial on charges of slander and libel and physical abuse.
ANHRI condemns the ongoing restrictions on media freedoms in Bahrain and the targeting of Al-Wasat newspaper in particular. In addition to the flagrant attack on the journalist Reem Khalifa and converting her from a victim to a defendant, Al-Wasat newspaper and its staff encountered many harassments before and after the peaceful demonstrations that broke out in Bahrain last February.
It is worth noting that the Bahraini authorities had issued a decision to suspend Al-Jarida newspaper in April, and forced its Chief Editor, Director, the head of the localities department, and one of its editors to resign for the newspaper to be re-issued. Last October, the Supreme Criminal Court fined Mansoor Al-Jamri, the former Chief Editor and his aforementioned assistants 1000 Bahraini dinars on charges of publishing false news in the same newspaper.
“Reem Khalifa is menaced by imprisonment for two years and a fine of 1000 Bahraini Dinars, in accordance with the Penal Code. It is likely, however, that the charges against her stem from political motives of the Bahraini authorities on the grounds of her support to the demands for democracy in Bahrain. This incident illustrates the continued negligence of the right to freedom of expression by the authorities, and the clampdown on media freedoms since the outbreak of the pro-democracy protests at the beginning of the year” said ANHRI.
“Bahrain must drop all charges against the journalist Reem Khalifa and stop the trial. The media, the international community, and all freedom of expression defenders should shed light on the attacks on freedom of expression in Bahrain and discontinue their shameful silence over the violations committed by the authorities” added ANHRI.