Bahrain has banned all demonstrations following clashes between police and anti-government protestors on Monday (29 October). Interior minister Sheikh Rashid Al Khalifah said that the clampdown was a result of the “repeated abuses” of freedom of expression.

The emergency move is the largest scale attempt to quash the Gulf kingdom’s anti-government uprising which began in February of last year.

Index on Censorship award winner Nabeel Rajab is currently serving a three-year jail sentence for organising “illegal protests”.