14 Jun 17 | Bahrain, Bahrain News, Middle East and North Africa, News and features
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Protesters joined Index on Censorship and others at the Bahraini embassy in London on Tuesday to stand in solidarity for the release of Bahraini human rights activist Nabeel Rajab.
One protester, Sayed Ahmed Alwadaei, director of advocacy at the Bahrain Institute for Human Rights and Democracy, stepped onto the embassy’s steps to hold a poster of Rajab’s face by the embassy’s door. Alwadaei was arrested a few minutes later and taken away in a police car.
Police told Index Alwadaei “overstepped the mark of peaceful protest and trespassed diplomatic premises”. He was taken to jail where he spent the night.
Alwadaei was released on Wednesday morning without charge.
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20 Apr 17 | Bahrain, Bahrain Statements, Campaigns, Campaigns -- Featured, Middle East and North Africa, Statements
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To: Sheikh Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa
King of Bahrain
CC: Hon. Zeid Ra’ad Zeid al-Hussein
High Commissioner for Human Rights
Ms. Frederica Mogherini
High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy
Mr. Sigmar Gabriel
Vice-Chancellor and Foreign Minister of the Federal Republic of Germany
Mr. Rex W. Tillerson
United States Secretary of State
The Right Honorable Boris Johnson
Foreign & Commonwealth Office of the United Kingdom
Mr. Jean-Marc Ayrault
Minister of Foreign Affairs of France
King Hamad,
We, the undersigned, express our deep concern with the government of Bahrain’s continued targeting of journalists, which further restricts free press and expression in the country. On 23 April 2017, the court of appeals will hold another hearing for Sayed Ahmed Salman al-Mousawi, an internationally-renowned photographer, after he was arrested more than three years ago for alleged terrorist activities. The government’s repeated harassment of al-Mousawi and other journalists highlight the ongoing censorship and restrictions on free press and expression in Bahrain.
Sayed Ahmed Salman al-Mousawi is a 29-year-old freelance photographer who has won 169 international photography prizes—a number of which he even won while in detention. He is a member of FIAP, PSA, UPI and Qatif photos.
Authorities arrested al-Mousawi, along with his brother Sayed Mohammed, on 10 February 2014 from their home in Duraz. The plain-clothes masked policemen did not present any arrest warrant and confiscated his cameras and electronic devices. After holding al-Mousawi for six days, officials transferred him to Dry Dock prison. Security forces then took him to the Criminal Investigations Directorate (CID) for another six days where they tortured him “cruelly without mercy,” as he later told his father. Security officers hung him on a door four times, electrocuted him, and did not allow him to sit for four days. They stripped him naked, beat him and sexually assaulted him. No independent investigation into his torture allegations has ever been conducted.
Al-Mousawi spent over nine months in detention without official charges against him. At his first trial on 24 December 2014, the prosecutor charged him with forming and participating in a terror cell, accusing him of providing SIM cards to protesters —“terrorists”—and taking photos of anti-government demonstrations. He and other witnesses denied that he had anything to do with the riots. Over the course of 2015, officials postponed his trial six times. Meanwhile, the government continued to deny him his basic human rights, including restricting access to a lawyer, placing him in solitary confinement, and denying family visits.
On 23 November 2015, the Bahraini court sentenced al-Mousawi to 10 years imprisonment and revoked his citizenship. However, the Court of Cassation overturned the ruling earlier this year. His postponed appeal hearing next month provides an opportunity to end his prolonged arbitrary detention and mistreatment. Al-Mousawi has now been held arbitrarily for over three years, merely for exercising his right to free expression.
Al-Mousawi’s case is representative of the Bahraini government’s growing repression against basic civil rights. We, the undersigned, have raised our concern over numerous cases of torture, arbitrary detention, unfair trials, and trumped up terrorism charges used to restrict expression unfavourable to the government. Journalists, bloggers, online activists and human rights defenders such as Faisal Hayyat, Nazeeha Saeed, and Nabeel Rajab, among others, have increasingly come under attack by authorities since the 2011 pro-democracy protests. Arbitrary arrests of journalists, systematic torture and impunity have turned Bahrain into a dangerous country for those who speak out. The country is ranked 162nd out of 180 countries in Reporters Without Borders’ (RSF) 2016 World Press Freedom Index and has become one of the biggest detainers for journalists and bloggers with at least 14 behind bars as of today.
Furthermore, the government has also censored and restricted the media, most recently in January, temporarily suspending the online version of Alwasat, the only independent newspaper in the country. Through a combination of media and counterterrorism legislation, as well as excessive government oversight, to justify their actions against the press and journalists, Bahraini officials continue to act with impunity.
The targeting and judicial harassment of journalists simply performing their work is unacceptable and violates international human rights standards. Bahrain is a signatory to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), which states in Article 19 that “Everyone shall have the right to freedom of expression.” This includes the requirement that “a free press and other media [be] able to comment on public issues without censorship or restraint and to inform public opinion.” The pattern of reprisals and suppression of freedom of express far exceeds the limited restrictions placed on this right under article 19.3.
We, the undersigned, raise our concerns about restrictions on free press and expression in Bahrain and call on the Bahraini government to:
- Immediately and unconditionally release Sayed Ahmed Salman al-Mousawi and all other journalists arrested and imprisoned for merely exercising their right to free expression;
- Guarantee the right to free expression by removing restrictions on the media and peaceful dissent, and foster an independent free press to fulfil Bahrain’s international human rights obligations.
Signed,
ActiveWatch (Romania)
Africa Freedom of Information Centre
Americans for Democracy & Human Rights in Bahrain (ADHRB)
Article 19
Bahrain Institute for Rights and Democracy (BIRD)
Bytes for All, Pakistan
Canadian Journalists for Free Expression
European Center for Democracy and Human Rights
Freedom House
Gulf Center for Human Rights
Index on Censorship
Journaliste en Danger (JED)
Maharat Foundation
Media Foundation for West Africa
Reporters Without Borders (RSF)
World Association of Newspapers and News Publishers[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_basic_grid post_type=”post” max_items=”4″ element_width=”6″ grid_id=”vc_gid:1492705737868-c65e7005-0971-10″][/vc_column][/vc_row]
19 Apr 17 | Awards
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Jodie Ginsberg is chief executive of Index on Censorship.
I hope you are indeed having an extraordinary evening. It’s extraordinary because of the individuals and groups we have honoured here tonight and it’s extraordinary because you make it so.
Many of you are old friends of Index. Others are new acquaintances. For those of us who are new to us – and the old friends who may have forgotten – I want to take this opportunity to tell, or remind, you a little bit about us and what we do.
Index was founded 45 years ago to tell the stories of dissidents behind the Iron Curtain and beyond – from the very first magazine we featured stories from across the world by and about censored writers and artists: from Brazil to Greece to Bangladesh. We were concerned then, as now, not just with the written word but all forms of expression. And we have continued to publish this magazine – the only of its kind in the world – ever since.
Our aim is to put ourselves out of business. Our ambition is modest: nothing less than an end to censorship. Sadly, however, the enemies of free speech seem as strong as ever. It is for that reason Index not only publishes its magazine but campaigns against censorship, targeting countries and issues where we believe our specialist knowledge and expertise can have a marked impact. In Europe, we monitor threats to press freedom and next week we publish a groundbreaking report on US media freedom in the Trump era. We also encourage debate about free speech and – through the awards fellowship – support groups and individuals tackling censorship to be even more effective.
Why do we do this? We do it because we believe freedom of expression is the bedrock of all other freedoms – a necessary condition for the flourishing not just of life, but a life with meaning.
But it is a fragile freedom. Across the globe, freedom of expression is under threat. We still live in a world where writers can be killed for voicing their religious or non-religious beliefs and a blind eye turned by authorities, where journalists are detained for criticising their governments even in supposed democracies, and where taking offence has become a sufficient benchmark to enforce silence.
This is not the world I want to see. Nor is it the world I want my children to grow up in. I believe that if we want a more tolerant, inclusive society we need to defend freedom of expression – and that means defending the rights of those with whom you disagree as vigorously – if not more vigorously – than those whose views accord with your own.
Tonight we have heard remarkable stories of people fighting to speak out. But what we have also done is listen. Tonight we have celebrated not just what it means to speak freely but also what it means to be heard. Though Ildar and Rebel Pepper could not join us, the knowledge that there is a witness to their stories provides the strength to continue as it does for friends like former winner Nabeel Rajab, who has now been detained without trial for more than 9 months in a Bahraini jail simply for exercising his peaceful right to expression.
Noma said of tonight’s finalists: “These stories have to be told on behalf of people who cannot speak for themselves”. They also have to be heard. And I want to thank you for hearing them.
Thank you for helping us defend freedom of expression – a freedom that does not make us human but what gives us humanity.
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Speech: Ildar Dadin: “Together, we can refuse to look away”
For his one-man protests, Ildar Dadin was sent to prison in December 2015 where he was tortured, before his conviction was quashed in February 2017. Read the full profile.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][vc_column width=”1/2″][vc_single_image image=”84888″ img_size=”full” alignment=”center”][vc_column_text]
Despite the persecution he faces for his work, Rebel Pepper continues to satirise the Chinese state from a life in exile in Japan. Read the full profile
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Established in 2015, Turkey Blocks is an independent digital research organisation that monitors internet access restrictions in Turkey. Read the full profile.
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Maldives Independent, the Maldives’ premiere English publication and one of the few remaining independent media outlets, was formed in exile in Sri Lanka in 2004. Read the full profile.
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11 Apr 17 | Bahrain, Bahrain Statements, Campaigns, Campaigns -- Featured, Statements
[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]As attention focuses on Bahrain ahead of the annual Formula One Grand Prix on 14-16 April, Index urges political leaders internationally to speak out against human rights abuses in the country.
Index is particularly troubled by the treatment of prominent human rights defender Nabeel Rajab, who was arrested in June 2016 on multiple charges related to his media activities and peaceful expression online.
Last week, Rajab underwent surgery in hospital and was returned almost immediately to solitary confinement. For two days, he was forced to wear dirty clothes covered in blood and he still lacks access to any proper medical care while in jail despite a deep and open wound that causes severe pain and needs constant care.
“We call on the Bahraini government to end its inhumane treatment of Nabeel Rajab, who is being persecuted for simply exercising his right to peacefully express his opinion,” Index on Censorship chief executive Jodie Ginsberg said.
“Countries like Britain that enjoy such freedoms need to speak out more forcibly when such rights are denied to individuals elsewhere,” she added.
Rajab, a 2012 winner of the Index on Censorship Freedom of Expression Awards, was supposed to be freed on bail in December 2016 after nearly seven months in jail. However, he was re-arrested and remanded into custody for seven days, on charges related to media interviews he gave in 2015. Rajab has been in police custody since 13 June, when he was arrested and later charged with “spreading false news and rumours about the internal situation in a bid to discredit Bahrain.”
Rajab, president of the Bahrain Center for Human Rights, has been in pre-trial detention since his arrest in June. His detention, much of it in solitary confinement, has caused a deterioration in his health.
Bahrain appears to be intensifying a crackdown on journalists and human rights campaigners in the country.
On 23 April 2017, the court of appeals will hold a hearing for Sayed Ahmed Salman al-Mousawi, an internationally-renowned photographer, who was arrested more than three years ago for alleged terrorist activities.
Index is also concerned about the targeting and persecuting of a human rights defender’s family as means of intimidation. These retaliatory measures include the detention of the mother-in-law and brother-in-law of the UK-based Bahraini activist Sayed Ahmed Alwadaei. Both were taken into custody by the Bahraini authorities and their detentions were renewed on 6 April for 30 days.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_basic_grid post_type=”post” max_items=”10″ style=”load-more” items_per_page=”4″ element_width=”6″ grid_id=”vc_gid:1491928102591-8e234634-c0a1-1″ taxonomies=”716″][/vc_column][/vc_row]
