Bulletin of “Committee to Defend Women’s Rights in the Middle East” – Number 16 – September 2003
What started as one woman’s battle for custody of her children has become a cause célébre, with seven people facing criminal charges. Editor-in-Chief of newspaper Akhbar Al Khaleej Anwar Abdulrahman and six others face a criminal charge of defaming 11 Sharia judges. This is a social case related to women’s rights,” Mr Abdulrahman said after the case was adjourned until September 23 at the High Criminal Court. He called for a complete separation of state and religion in Bahrain. ‘We have to be patient, changes don’t come overnight, but the outcome of this case could decide future horizons of Press freedom,” said Mr Abdulrahman.
Bulletin of “Committee to Defend Women’s Rights in the Middle East” – Number 16 – September 2003What started as one woman’s battle for custody of her children has become a cause célébre, with seven people facing criminal charges. Editor-in-Chief of newspaper Akhbar Al Khaleej Anwar Abdulrahman and six others face a criminal charge of defaming 11 Sharia judges. This is a social case related to women’s rights,” Mr Abdulrahman said after the case was adjourned until September 23 at the High Criminal Court. He called for a complete separation of state and religion in Bahrain. ‘We have to be patient, changes don’t come overnight, but the outcome of this case could decide future horizons of Press freedom,” said Mr Abdulrahman.
The Sharia judges claim their characters were stained by Akhbar Al Khaleej’s coverage of a hunger-strike by Ms Rabea, in protest over a decision to remove her daughters from her custody and return them to her ex-husband. She staged a hunger strike outside the Justice Ministry on April 8 and 9, during which she collapsed and was taken to hospital. It is the reporting of her situation that Mr Abdulrahman and the others are alleged to have defamed the Sharia judges.
The Bahrain Centre for Human Rights said in a statement that it was monitoring the trial with grave concern, because of the implications of Law 47 for the year 2002 of the Press Code. According to the code, an editor-in-chief may be found criminally liable for material published in his newspaper. The BCHR said that while it respected the right of judges to bring charges, it was concerned that the law could be used as a censorship tool.