02 May 2013
Violations against the Freedom of the Press in Bahrain are ongoing, and the Bahrain Center for Human Rights is seriously concerned about reports of attacks against journalists and the media in general. Tomorrow, the 3rd of May, we commemorate World Press Freedom day, to raise awareness of the importance of freedom of the press and to remind governments of their duty to respect and uphold the right to freedom of expression. Despite King Hamad bin Isa al-Khalifa’s pledge to uphold press freedom and reform, conditions over the last year have not improved.
02 May 2013
Violations against the Freedom of the Press in Bahrain are ongoing, and the Bahrain Center for Human Rights is seriously concerned about reports of attacks against journalists and the media in general. Tomorrow, the 3rd of May, we commemorate World Press Freedom day, to raise awareness of the importance of freedom of the press and to remind governments of their duty to respect and uphold the right to freedom of expression. Despite King Hamad bin Isa al-Khalifa’s pledge to uphold press freedom and reform, conditions over the last year have not improved.
During the last year, several journalists and bloggers in Bahrain have been harassed, assaulted, imprisoned, and allegedly tortured as a result of their work; journalists in the proximity of pro-democracy demonstrations were regularly targeted by security forces. The BCHR has compiled the following of violations that have occurred against the media over the course of the last year.
Arrest and torture of Journalists
On May 16, Ahmed Radhi, a freelance journalist and blogger, was arrested without a warrant by security forces at 4 a.m. after they broke down his door, for criticizing a proposed union of Bahrain and Saudi Arabia in interviews he gave to BBC Arabic Radio and the London-based exile television station, Lulu TV. He was reportedly tortured, insulted, and held incommunicado for 10 days after his arrest. Ahmed’s lawyer was not allowed to meet with him until the first week of June, nor was she told what Ahmed was accused of. The BCHR has received a letter written by Ahmed Radhi in which he stated that he was beaten on his head and chest by security forces. He was thrown on a cold and hard floor, handcuffed with his hands behind his back and blindfolded for 48 hours. Ahmed was released on 20 Sep 2012 without a trial.
On December 29, renowned and award-winning photographer, Ahmed Humaidan, was kidnapped by 15 security officers in civilian clothing from a shopping mall in Bahrain, and arrested. According to Humaidan’s family, he was subjected to psychological torture. He was forced to stand up for hours while being handcuffed and blindfolded in a very cold room, holding an unknown object which interrogators told him that its was a timed bomb set to explode. Humaidan is charged along with a group of over 30 persons of burning Sitra police station. However it is believed that Humaidan, who is still in detention, was targeted because of the photographs he takes of the ongoing Bahraini protests.
Archive photo of police aiming to shoot journalist Mazen Mahdi
Professional photojournalists of the EPA Mazen Mahdi, the AP Hasan Jamali, and the AFP Mohamed AlShaikh were detained by police officers on Feb 14, 2013 while they were in Daih to cover the death of a teenager who was shot by the police. There were ongoing protest in the area. The three photojournalist were kept on the side of the road, prevented from doing their work, and were eventually told that they must leave. They were then put in a police car and taken to a police station where they were released. Similar incidents of breif arrests are common and seem to aim at hindering the journalists ability to fully cover events.
Photojournalist Ammar AbdulRasool (29 years old) was held under arrest for several hours at a checkpoint while he was on way to cover funeral of the teenager who was killed in Daih, on Feb 16, 2013. He was taken to Isa town police station and interrogated, but he was released later in the day after the events (funeral/protest/attacks) were over. Ammar is an award winning photojournalist who has been covering protests with his photos without covering his face.
Arrests and trials of online users
In the past year, 13 twitter users were arrested, detained, and put on trial for their tweets. Five of them have been already sentenced to periods ranging from 1-6 months for “defaming the king via twitter”, where another 6 including a 17 year-old boy are still on trial while in detention for the same charges.
Sentenced for defaming the king on Twitter:
1. 1 November 2012, Abdullah Alhashemi was sentenced to 6 months imprisonment.
2. 5 November 2012, Salman Darwish was sentenced to 1 month imprisonment
3. 5 November 2012, Ali Mohamed Watheqi was sentenced to four months of imprisonment.
4. 13 November 2012, Ali Al-Haiki was sentenced to four months in prison on a lèse-majesté charge for messages he posted on Twitter.
5. 11 Dec 2012, a 5th online user was sentenced to 4 months in prison for same charges.
Still on trial while in detention, charged with defaming the king over twitter:
1. Ali Faisal Al-Shufa (17 years old) was arrested on 12 March at dawn,
2. Hassan Abdali Isa (33 years old) was arrested on 12 March at dawn,
3. Mohsen Abdali Isa (26 years old) was arrested on 12 March at dawn,
4. Ammar Makki Mohammed Al-Aali (36 years old) was arrested on 12 March at dawn.
5. Mr. Mahmood Abdul-Majeed Abdulla Al-Jamri (34 years old) was arrested on 12 March at dawn.
6. Mahdi Ebrahim Al-Basri (25 years old) was arrested on 11 March at dawn. His relatives confirmed to the Bahrain Youth Society for Human Rights (BYSHR) that the contents of the house were destroyed and they were verbally abused. Mahdi also faced mistreatment in the Criminal Investigations. Mahdi is a practicing lawyer.
Photo: HRD Said Yousif Muhafdhah holding a poster in a protest
On 9 July 2012 Nabeel Rajab, President of the Bahrain Centre for Human Rights and Director of the Gulf Centre for Human Rights, was sentenced to 3 months in prison and arrested from his house on charges of “libeling the citizens of the town of Muharraq over twitter”, in relation to statements he made on Twitter calling for the Prime Minister to step down, and discussing his visit to the island of Muharraq. Though he was acquitted from the charges at appeal court, he remains in detention serving a two year sentence on charges of participating in demonstrations and calling for gathering over social media.
On December 17, Said Yousif Al-Muhafdhah, human rights defender and the Acting Vice President and Head of Documentation Unit of the Bahrain Center for Human Rights (BCHR), was arrested while monitoring a protest in Manama and tweeting about the attacks on protesters and the violations to their rights. He was charged with “disseminating false news over twitter” and he remained in detention for a month. Though the court acquitted him of the charges on 11 March 2013, the public prosecution has appealed against the acquittal.
Denial of Access
On 14 July 2012 Bahrain deported US filmmaker Jen Marlowe, after she was briefly detained and questioned before being flown to Jordan. The authorities accused her of falsifying her visa application and shooting a documentary without permission.
Nick Kristoff was denied entry at the country’s border on the 20th of December 2012 when he was informed that he is on a ‘black list’. The two-time Pulitzer prize winning journalist has been highly critical of the Bahraini authorities in his reporting. During his last visit to Bahrain in Dec 2012 he was subject to tear gas attack and was briefly detained along with his accompanying camera man.
Habiba Hamid reported that she was interrogated for 5 hours at Bahrain airport on 11 Feb 2013, then she was denied entry to Bahrain, although she was not coming to report on the political situation. The authorities checked her twitter feed which included comments on Bahrain. They wanted her to apply for a visa through Ministry of Information first, before coming to Bahrain.
On 19 April 2013, ITV News channel‘s team were stopped while filiming in Bahrain and were then taken to a local police station where they were asked to levae Bahrain, despite having an approved visa by the Bahraini authorities. The decsion of deporting them came after the news channel issued a report the night before, which was critical of the government.
Impunity for Abusers
Torture marks on Zakariya Al-ASheeri’s body
After a year-long show trial, all 5 police officers were acquitted on the 5th of March 2013 on the charges that they severely beat a blogger, ZaKariya Al-ASheeri which led to his death on April 2011 while he was in police custody. Zakariya Al-Asheeri, moderator of www.dair.net online forum was arrested on the 2nd of April 2011 on charges of inciting hatred, publishing false news, promoting sectarianism and calling for the overthrow of the regime via e-forums. He was announced dead in custody 8 days later on the 9th of April 2011. His body was handed over to his family covered with marks of torture. (Photos)
Journalist Naziha Saeed
On October 22, a female police officer Sara al-Moosa was acquitted from torturing France 24 Correspondent, Ms. Nazeeha Saeed after a series of adjournments that lasted for more than a year. In May 2011, at Riffa police station, Saeed was blindfolded, kicked, punched, and slapped. Her hair was pulled, she was whipped with plastic tubing, had a shoe forced into her mouth and her head dunked into a toilet. An unknown, caustic liquid said to be urine was poured onto her face, she was repeatedly insulted and mentally abused and the authorities demanded that she make a false confession. Three independent medical reports, two of which were from Bahraini government doctors, corroborate Ms Saeed’s account of the torture she suffered while in custody. While Ms Saeed was able to identify 5 of her attackers, only one female police officer, Sara al-Moosa, was prosecuted and thereafter acquitted.
More than one year has passed since citizen-journalist and cameraman, Ahmed Ismael (22 years old) was shot dead on 31 March 2012 while covering a peaceful protest in Salmabad which was suppressed by security forces accompined with armed men in a civilian car who were shooting live rounds at protesters. To date, no one has been held accountable for this murder.
Threats and harrasments
Journalist Reem Khalifa
On November 13, a Manama appeal court upheld journalist Reem Khalifa’s conviction on a trumped-up charge of physically attacking two women doctors and insulting a third after a Manama news conference in July 2011, she will had to pay a fine of 100 BD (210 euros) and a total of 500 BD in compensation to the doctors. The journalist has filed a complaint against her attackers, however the case was put on-hold at the public prosecution.
In a different incident, Journalist Khalifa was assaulted by a security patrol on 29th of June. She was standing near the building of AL-Wasat newspaper, which is situated near the site of a demonstration. A security patrol suddenly stopped and one police officer stepped out and after watching her for a moment, he took a stun grenade out of his pocket and throw it directly at her.
On November 23, the public prosecution summoned the lawyer Manar Maki and interrogated her on background of a statement she gave to the Satellite channel Alalam on 16 Nov 2012 about the torture of her detained client Adnan Almansi who was reportedly subjected to severe physical torture, including sexual assaults. Instead of investigating the allegation of torture, the prosecution seems to putting prssure on lawyers who expose violation to the media.
Where is @abdulemam?
It‘s been 2 years since the disappearance of the prominent bahraini blogger Ali Abdulemam on 17 Mar 2011. He was sentenced in absentia to 15 years in prison by a military court on 22 June 2011 for allegedly “belonging to terrorist organizations and trying to overthrow the government”. Abdulemam is the owner of the bahraini forums bahrainonline.org where views critical to the government are regularly expressed and where the first calls to protest on 14 Feb 2011 emerged. He was previously detained from September 2010 to February 2011 and was subjected to torture during that period. His whereabout remain unknown to this today.
The BCHR demands that the Bahraini authorities show full respect for the freedom of the press in Bahrain. Ordinary citizens should be allowed to peacefully and freedly express themselves on the internet, and journalists should be able to report objectivly on the government without fear of reprisals. The first step to reform the government’s relationship to the media is with accountability, and the figures responsible for the culture of impunity towards the media must be brought to justice.