28 Jul 16 | Bahrain, Bahrain Statements, Campaigns, Campaigns -- Featured, Statements
Nazeeha Saeed has been arbitrarily curtailed by Bahrain’s Information Affairs Authority.
We, the undersigned, express our deep concern with the Bahraini Public Prosecution’s decision to charge Nazeeha Saeed, correspondent for Radio Monte Carlo Doualiya and France24, with unlawfully working for international media. We consider this an undue reprisal against her as a journalist and call on Bahrain’s authorities to respect fully the right of journalists to practice their profession freely.
Nazeeha Saeed is an award-winning journalist and correspondent for Radio Monte Carlo Doualiya and France24. She has previously reported on the protest movement in 2011, and has reported on the mounting dissent against the Bahraini government for the last several years.
On Sunday 17 July 2016, the Public Prosecution summoned Nazeeha Saeed for interrogation based on a legal complaint from the Information Affairs Authority (IAA). The prosecution charged her under article 88 of Law 47/2002, which regulates the press, printing and publication. Article 88 states that no Bahraini can work for foreign media outlets without first obtaining a license from the Information Affairs Authority (IAA), which must be renewed annually.
Prior to the expiration of her license, Nazeeha Saeed applied for a new one at the end of March 2016, at which point, the IAA refused a renewal. This is the first time she has received such a rejection. Following this, Saeed continued to work as a correspondent for France24 and Radio Monte Carlo Doualiya. She now faces trial in the civil courts and a fine of up to 1000 Bahraini Dinars (USD $2650) if found guilty.
This is not the first time Nazeeha Saeed has been subjected to harassment by the Bahraini authorities. In May 2011, during a state of emergency imposed in response to Arab Spring protests, police summoned Saeed to the station and detained her there. For her coverage of events in Bahrain – Nazeeha Saeed witnessed police killing a man at a protest and rejected the government narrative of events – police allegedly subjected her to hours of torture, ill-treatment and humiliation, which only ended when she signed a document placed before her. She was not allowed to read it. Despite complaining to the Ministry of Interior and the new Special Investigations Unit, the body under the Public Prosecution charged with investigating claims of torture and abuse, in November 2015 the authorities decided against prosecuting the responsible officers on the basis of there being insufficient evidence.
In June 2016, Bahrain’s authorities placed Nazeeha Saeed on a travel ban, preventing her from leaving the country. The ban was applied without informing Saeed, who only discovered it after she was refused boarding on her flight. The police officer at the airport was unable to explain the reason for this travel ban, and officials from the immigration department, the public prosecution and the Criminal Investigation Department (CID), told the journalist that they were not even aware of its existence. Saeed is one of approximately twenty individuals known to have been banned from travel in Bahrain since the beginning of June 2016. Other journalists working for international media face similar threats and have also reported facing increased pressure from the government in the last year, making their work difficult. RSF and the Committee to Protect Journalists both list Bahrain as one of the leading jailers of journalists in the world. One of them, Sayed Ahmed Al-Mousawi, was stripped of his citizenship by a court in November 2015.
As organisations concerned with the right to freedom of expression, we call on the Government of Bahrain to end the reprisals against Nazeeha Saeed, lift her travel ban and drop the charges against her. We also call on the authorities to stop arbitrarily withholding license renewals and to allow journalists to report with full freedom of expression as protected under Article 19 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and Article 19 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.
Signed,
Adil Soz, International Foundation for Protection of Freedom of Speech
ACAT
Albanian Media Institute
Americans for Democracy and Human Rights in Bahrain
ARTICLE 19
Bahrain Center for Human Rights
Bahrain Institute for Rights and Democracy
Bahrain Press Association
Bytes for All
Canadian Journalists for Free Expression
Cartoonists Rights Network International
Center for Media Freedom and Responsibility
Committee to Protect Journalists
Egyptian Organization for Human Rights
English PEN
European Centre for Democracy and Human Rights
Foro de Periodismo Argentino
Freedom Forum
Freedom House
Free Media Movement
Front Line Defenders
Gulf Centre for Human Rights
Hisham Al Miraat, Founder, Moroccan Digital Rights Association
Human Rights Network for Journalists – Uganda
Independent Journalism Center – Moldova
Index on Censorship
Institute for the Studies on Free Flow of Information
Instituto de Prensa y Libertad de Expresión – IPLEX
International Press Institute
Justice Human Rights Organization
Maharat Foundation
Media, Entertainment and Arts Alliance
Media Watch
Norwegian PEN
Pacific Islands News Association
Pakistan Press Foundation
Palestinian Center for Development and Media Freedoms – MADA
PEN American Center
PEN Canada
PEN International
Reporters Without Borders
Social Media Exchange – SMEX
Vigilance pour la Démocratie et l’État Civique
25 Jul 16 | Bahrain, Bahrain Statements, Campaigns, Campaigns -- Featured, mobile
Bahraini human rights defender Nabeel Rajab (Photo: The Bahrain Institute for Rights and Democracy)
This is the tweet that Index on Censorship shared on 14 March 2015 when Nabeel Rajab, the Bahraini human rights campaigner, was challenging a six-month suspended sentence for “denigrating government institutions” for comments about the role of prisons as incubators of extremism. It is also one of the tweets now being used in evidence against Nabeel in a new case the government has brought against him. The latest case charges Nabeel, president of the award-winning Bahrain Center for Human Rights, with “publishing and broadcasting false news that undermines the prestige of the state”.
Nabeel’s attempts to assert his right and the rights of others to free expression are being systematically – and brutally – thwarted by a government that acts with the continued support of allies such as the UK. The King of Bahrain sat next to Queen Elizabeth at her 90th birthday party in March: how much clearer indication could the UK possibly give of its support for a country that continues to torture citizens who disagree with the regime? A country that this weekend ordered the 15-day detention of a poet, and which last year stripped 72 people of their citizenship – including journalists and bloggers – for simply voicing their criticism of the current regime. A country that uses a retweet of solidarity from a UK-based organisation as evidence that Nabeel broadcasts “false news and articles”.
It is not false to suggest Nabeel – and many others – are subjected to continued judicial harassment. Nabeel spent two years in jail between 2012 and 2014 on spurious charges including writing offensive tweets and taking part in illegal protests. He left the country shortly afterwards to raise international awareness of the country’s plight and days after his return was again arrested. Though charged and later pardoned, he remained subject to a travel ban and now faces jail once more.
I met Nabeel during his visit to the UK in August 2014. I had been in my job for just two months and was keen to know how organisations like ours could support individuals like Nabeel, who was awarded the Index on Censorship Freedom of Expression Award in 2012. The meeting remains one of the defining moments of my time at Index: one that has helped to guide my thinking over the past 24 months. “Be there,” was Nabeel’s message. Be there not just when high-profile cases flare up and the eye of the media flickers over a country. Be there when a person fades from the world’s gaze. Be there to remind others that the person still matters.
Nabeel’s comments informed our decision last year to redevelop our Freedom of Expression Awards as a fellowship – offering more sustained support to winners and reaffirming our commitment to be there for the long haul. In recognition of this influence, Nabeel was one of our judges for this year’s awards. Because of the travel ban, imposed after last year’s conviction, he could not join us in person, but he was very much present.
Nabeel is due to stand trial on 5 September — after yet another delay announced on 2 August — over his twitter comments (and, by extension, ours). The kind of comments made every day in the United Kingdom, United States, France, Germany and elsewhere to hold governments to account or simply to vent anger: tweets about conditions in jail, about judicial processes, about the state of the country. In these countries, such comments are – and should be – considered part of the democratic process. In Bahrain, a country that the UK government repeatedly insists is on the “right path” to democracy, such comments land you in jail, solitary confinement, threatened with violence.
And when Bahrain starts using the support of international organisations like ours as evidence with which to condemn human rights activists, it is incumbent on governments like the UK to speak publicly. These governments need to be there, not just for the regimes they support, but in defence of the human rights they themselves claim to uphold and also for the people whose rights are being denied.
13 Jul 16 | Bahrain, Bahrain Statements, Campaigns, Campaigns -- Featured, Statements
Bahraini human rights defender Nabeel Rajab (Photo: The Bahrain Institute for Rights and Democracy)
Index strongly protests the continued judicial harassment of Nabeel Rajab, a respected Bahraini human rights defender, and calls for his immediate and unconditional release.
Rajab was arrested on 13 June 2016 and later charged with “spreading false news and rumors about the internal situation in a bid to discredit Bahrain.” This charge was in response to statements he gave during past television interviews in early 2015 and 2016.
On Tuesday, 12 July 2016, Rajab’s trial was set to begin but the Court adjourned the hearing and postponed the case until 2 August 2016, ordering the continued detention of the human rights defender.
“The Bahraini authorities are drawing out deliberately the process in a way that extends the punishment of a man who has not been found – and is not – guilty of any crime other than that of desiring to speak freely, and for others to be able to do the same,” said Index’s chief executive Jodie Ginsberg.
Index is extremely concerned about the treatment of Nabeel Rajab, whose health condition has deteriorated while in prison.
In addition, Index calls on Bahrain’s authorities to release Rajab to attend the mourning of his uncle who passed away yesterday, Tuesday, 12 July 2016.
A former Index Freedom of Expression Award-winner and a member of the judging panel at the 2016 Awards, Rajab has been subjected to ongoing judicial harassment to silence his human rights work.
08 Jul 16 | Bahrain, Campaigns, Campaigns -- Featured, Middle East and North Africa, mobile
Yesterday, the European Parliament adopted, with a large majority, a resolution condemning recent human rights abuses performed by Bahraini authorities, and strongly called for an end to the ongoing repression against the country’s human rights defenders, political opposition and civil society.
Members of the European Parliament called for the immediate and unconditional release of Nabeel Rajab and other human rights defenders jailed over charges related to the exercise of their freedom of speech. They further condemned Bahraini authorities’ measures to prevent representatives of civil society from participating in the work of international bodies, such as the recent imposition of travel bans on the delegation set to attend the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva in June.
In the resolution, MEPs urged the Bahraini government to stop persecuting legitimate political opposition. They condemned the decision to suspend the country’s biggest opposition group, Al-Wefaq National Islamic Society, and called for the release of Sheikh Ali Salman, the group’s secretary general whose sentence was increased from 4 to 9 years in May.
The MEPs particularly condemned the Bahraini authorities’ misuse of anti-terrorism laws and mechanisms for denaturalisation as means of political pressure. The European Parliament strongly called on the authorities to reverse the decision to revoke the citizenship of Sheikh Isa Qassim and to “restore Bahraini citizenship to all those individuals who were unfairly stripped of it.”
The resolution also called for the effective implementation of the 2011 recommendations of the Bahrain Independent Commission of Inquiry, the Universal Periodic Review and the country’s own constitutional provisions linked to the respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms. Furthermore, the resolution recognised the risk of impending execution faced by Mohammed Ramadan and Ali Moosa.
Finally, MEPs condemned the agreements on trade in weapons and technologies used to violate human rights and called for the prohibition of exports of tear gas and anti-riot equipment to Bahrain until investigations have been carried out into their inappropriate use.
The undersigned NGOs strongly welcome the resolution as a clear signal to the Bahraini authorities that they must respect their international commitments, as well as their own constitution, and allow their citizens to exercise their basic rights and freedoms, such as freedom of expression and assembly.
We believe that it is of the utmost importance that EU policy and decision-makers assert the respect for human rights and legitimate expression of political dissent as a condition for any further development of relations with Bahrain and GCC countries. The next opportunity to do so will be the EU-GCC ministerial meeting which will be held in Brussels on 19 July 2016.
Please read the full text of the resolution here.
Background:
In what has been a concerted crackdown on civil society, media and fundamental freedoms, Bahraini authorities have in the past month embarked on a series of arrests, impositions of travel bans and denaturalisations of their citizens who have tried to exercise their fundamental freedoms, including the freedom of expression and freedom of assembly.
These moves include:
- the arrest and prosecution of the prominent human rights defender Nabeel Rajab;
- the suspension, announced dissolution and the asset-freeze of the country’s biggest opposition party, the Al-Wefaq Islamic Society;
- an increased jail sentence, from 4 to 9 years, for the party’s Secretary-General, Sheikh Ali Salman;
- the imposition of travel bans on journalists and activists, including a delegation of human rights activists set to participate at the 32nd UN Human Rights Council session in Geneva;
- the forced exile of prominent human rights activist Zainab al-Khawaja;
- the suspension of several non-governmental and religious organisations;
- the denationalisation of Sheikh Isa Qassim, the spiritual leader of the Bahrain’s Shia majority population
These moves, and in particular the decision to revoke the citizenship of Sheikh Isa Qassim, provoked a wave of mass protests across the country, representing the largest public outcry since the 2011 unrest.
Signed By
Americans for Democracy & Human Rights in Bahrain
Bahrain Center for Human Rights
Bahrain Institute for Rights and Democracy
English Pen
European Centre For Democracy and Human Rights
Index on Censorship
International Federation for Human Rights
Justice Human Rights Organization
Pen International
Reprieve
