A pro-democracy protest in January 2013. (Photo: Moh’d Saeed / Demotix)
On 17 September, Bahraini authorities arrested Khalil Marzouq, a prominent member of the opposition Al Wefaq group. Following an interrogation that lasted over seven hours, he was charged under newly amended terrorism laws leading, to Bahrain’s main opposition party to pull out of the National Dialogue.
The credibility of the dialogue itself has come under criticism, as the government has carried on with its crackdown on dissent throughout the discussions. Amnesty International points to this irony by noting that authorities have been “flaunting” the National Dialogue as the central reason for canceling the visit of UN Special Rapporteur on Torture back in April, yet have nevertheless moved towards arresting participants. The actions have been criticised as measures intended to “wipe out the opposition”.
There has also been an attempt to dismember the Ulama Council of Shia religious leaders, led by Sheik Isa Qassim. Additionally, in a recent development, Bahrain’s Public Prosecutor has also been re-elected as a member Member of International Association of Prosecutors Executive Committee, despite Bahrain’s human rights abuses and continued prosecution of human rights defenders and political activists.
The results have been critical; Bahrain has been leading a campaign of repression with impunity since the protests began.
The recommendations of the Bahrain Independent Commission of Inquiry and the United Nations Universal Periodic Review have been largely ignored in practice, and instead practical moves have been taken within the national legal framework to target the opposition.
New terrorism laws have been announced implementing measures to withdraw citizenship and setting tough penalties against anyone that the regime dubs a terrorist. Newly implemented decrees have also imposed sweeping bans on all forms of peaceful protest in the capital Manama, alongside tough penalties for parents and guardians of juveniles who take part in unlicensed demonstrations.
Such measures have always been imposed in Bahrain, however the move to practically implement them within national law has lead to a new era of political polarisation.
Media personnel and citizen journalists reporting on human rights abuses have also found themselves targetted. In August, citizen journalist Mohamed Hassan was arrested and his equipment seized during a midnight raid on his home. Shortly following the events, his lawyer AbdulAziz Mosa was also detained after tweeting claims that Hassan had been tortured. The Bahrain Centre for Human Rights reported that he had been interrogated for over three hours, beaten on his back and lower abdomen and “forced to confess under mental and physical coercion”.
More recently, on the 24 September, a US citizen Tagi Al Maidanwas convicted and sentenced under charges relating to attempted murder: charges he consistently denies. Al Maidan has long complained of torture during his detention. Torture was confirmed to have been a systematic practice in Bahrain by the BICI despite the government’s denial that it takes place.
Allegations of torture and ill-treatment continue to surface following the report, not only in places of isolation away from security departments, but during CID and Public Prosecution interrogations. During a meeting between Bahrain’s Prime Minister and Mubarak Bin Huwail, recently acquitted of torture, the PM commented to Huawail that “these laws cannot be applied to you. No one can touch this bond. Whoever applies these laws against you is applying them against us. We are one body”.
Despite the lack of international accountability for Bahrain’s rights abuses, these recent developments have forced some states to show public concern over the future of the Kingdom. At the 24th session of the UN Human Rights Council, 47 states expressed concern through a joint-statement over the deterioration of the human rights situation in Bahrain, its newly implemented terrorism laws (specifically revocations of citizenship), the increase in violence and the imprisonment and harassment of persons exercising their internationally recognised freedoms.
The European Parliament has similarly expressed concerns over the deteriorating situation where “human rights activists are facing ongoing systematic targeting, harassment and detention in Bahrain”.
The uprising looks to continue amidst the absolute subjugation of any form of dissent. Opposition have been branded and targeted as “terrorists” — a term undefined in Bahrain national law — and as anniversaries are set to be re-lived in the new year, the movement is subsequently set to escalate in dissent.
A Bahraini teenager has been given jail time for a tweet. Sara Yasin looks at how the country has pursued users of the popular social networking site
A seventeen-year-old student has been sentenced to one year in prison for allegedly insulting Bahrain’s king on Twitter. Ali Faisal Alshofa was first arrested in March this year. The teenager has been accused of posting the tweet in question using the @alkawarahnews account, but he has denied any ties to the account.
The Bahrain Center for Human Rights (BCHR) has condemned the teenager’s arrest, as well as “the ongoing crackdown on online users, and use of the judicial system to limit their free speech.”
Reporters Without Borders has labelled Bahrain one of the “enemies of the Internet” for its usage of surveillance technology, and relentless pursuit of dissidents online.
Despite claiming that it upholds free speech, Bahrain has been no stranger to punishing speech online.
Here’s a handy guide to the country’s free speech violations against Twitter users:
European ministers and Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) members will meet on Sunday in Bahrain to discuss the future of their political and economic relations from 2013-2016. Bahrain’s free speech violations in recent weeks should also be up for discussion, says Sara Yasin
Bahrain is introducing new regulations on Voice Over Internet Protocol (VoIP) applications that could mean a ban on programmes like Skype, WhatsApp, Viber, and Tango.
Minister of State for Communication Fawaz bin Mohammed Al Khalifa cited “security considerations” for the new regulations, according to Gulf News. He also said that it was part of “efforts exerted by the GCC to ensure the existence of regulations that preserve the rights of operators and that there is no abuse of communication applications”. Saudi Arabia, also a member of the GCC, blocked Viber earlier this month. The country has also threatened to ban Skype and WhatsApp after the companies refused to comply with the country’s monitoring requests.
The UK National Contact Point (NCP)for the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD)has announced that it will consider a case brought against a UK-based surveillance company for selling technology that was used to spy on Bahraini dissidents. Five organisations filed formal complaints against Gamma International with the OECD, arguing that the company has been in violation of the OECD guidelines by selling its technology to repressive governments. The company has claimed that it “would not supply the product identified in the complaint in a situation where it believed it would be used for the purpose of repressing civil rights”. Last year suspicious e-mails were sent to Bahraini dissidents, including London-based activist Ala’a Shehabi. The e-mails were eventually linked to Gamma International’s FinFisher Suite, which infects email accounts and electronic devices using Trojans. Privacy International, along with the Bahrain Center for Human Rights, Reporters Without Borders, Bahrain Watch, and European Center for Constitutional and Human Rights brought the complaints against the security company in February this year.
Bahraini journalist Nazeeha Saeed
Manama’s Court of Appeal this week upheld the acquittal of Sarah Al-Moosa, a policewoman charged with torturing France 24 journalist Nazeeha Saeed. Al-Moosa was acquitted October last year, after a Manama Court decided that Saeed’s evidence was “contradictory” and “not consistent” with the forensic report. Saeed presented three medical reports confirming her account of torture while in police custody, after her arrest in May 2011. She was detained while covering a crackdown on pro-democracy protests.
The jail sentence of human rights defender Zainab Alkhawajahas been extended by two months for allegedly assaulting two policewomen. Alkhawaja has been in jail since 27 February this year, serving on charges of “taking part in illegal gathering, unlawful entry to Pearl Roundabout, and insulting a police officer.” The activist’s sentence means that she will be held until February next year. Alkhawaja has been active in documenting and speaking out against human rights violations since the start of unrest in the country in February 2011.
Human rights defender Mohammad Al-Maskati
The head of Bahrain Youth Society for Human Rights (BYSHR), Mohamed Al-Maskati, is currently facing charges for “participation in illegal protest.” The activist appeared before Manama’s Lower Criminal Court on 19 June, but the hearing was then postponed until July. If convicted, Al-Maskati faces up to six months jail time. The Bahrain Center for Human Rights (BCHR) believes that Al-Maskati has been targeted for condemning the regime’s human rights violations at the Human Rights Council in Geneva last September. The activist reportedly received threatening phone calls for his participation, and was targeted by pro-government newspapers following his return. Index has previously condemned Bahrain’s treatment of human rights defenders, including BCHR head Nabeel Rajab, who is serving a two-year jail sentence for “organising illegal gatherings.”
Sara Yasin is an Editorial Assistant at Index. She tweets from @missyasin
In the last week, Bahrain’s treatment of its citizens and their right to free expression has been repeatedly in the news. Sara Yasin reports on a spate of developments that raise questions about the Bahraini government’s commitment to free speech.
Blogger and activist Ali Abdulemam has been granted asylum in the United Kingdom. Abdulemam’s two years in hiding began shortly after the start of Bahrain’s political unrest in February 2011. He was sentenced in absentia to fifteen years in prison on charges of attempting to overthrow the monarchy.
Abdulemam is the prominent founder of Bahrain Online, a site that created an online space to criticise and discuss the country’s regime in 1998. Initially, he wrote anonymously, but he began to write in his own name in 2001. Public dissent in Bahrain comes at a price: the blogger was first arrested in 2005 and then once more in 2010.
News of Abdulemam’s heroic escape did not amuse Bahrain’s government:
Ali Abdulemam was not tried in court for exercising his right to express his opinions. Rather, he was tried for inciting and encouraging continuous violent attacks against police officers. Abdulemam is the founder of Bahrain Online, a website that has repeatedly been used to incite hatred, including through the spreading of false and inflammatory rumors.
The statement goes on to say that the country “respects the right of its citizens to express their opinion”, but makes a distinction between expressing an opinion and “engaging in and encouraging violence.”
Back in 2010, Abdulemam was jailed, tortured, and accused of being a part of a “terrorist network.” The real threat he posed to the state, as fellow activist Ala’a Shehabi put it last year, was that “his forum offered dissidents a voice.”
So what does “incitement” look like in Bahrain? For documenting a protest on Twitter last December, Bahrain Center for Human Rights (BCHR) member Said Yousif, was jailed and charged with “spreading false news.” According to the country’s laws, “the dissemination of the false news must amount to incitement to violence.” As Human Rights Watch’s Middle East director, Sarah Lea Witson put it:
If Bahraini officials believe that an activist is inciting violence by tweeting a picture of an injured demonstrator, then it’s clear that all the human rights sessions they’ve attended have been wasted.
The jailed head of the organisation, Nabeel Rajab, is currently serving a two year sentence for organising “illegal protests.” BCHR released a statement today expressing concerns that Rajab has been transferred to solitary confinement. He has been unreachable since relaying to his wife an account of young political prisoners being tortured earlier this week. Rajab was requesting a visit from the International Committee of the Red Cross, to document the case.
Still, Bahrain insists that freedom of expression is something that it upholds — in fact, it has gone so far as prosecuting individuals for supposedly abusing it. Just yesterday, year-long sentences were handed to six Twitter users for making posts insulting Bahrain’s King Hamad. For hanging a Bahraini flag from his truck during protests in 2011, a man was handed a three-month jail sentence today.
Looks like it might be time for Bahrain to reevaluate how it understands freedom of expression.
