Bahrain ends its fifth year with more than 890 violations of freedom of opinion and expression

London- Bahrain Press Association- Jan. 3, 2016: Bahrain Press Association BPA issued a statistical report entitled “Violations of Freedom of Opinion and Expression in Bahrain: Outcomes of 2011-2015” in which it documented the violations practiced against the Freedom of Press and expression since 2011.

The report documents the total violations, which the journalists, media people and activists on social media, whether human rights activists, politicians or ordinary citizens, have subjected to throughout the past five years.

The results of the report indicate that 2015 has witnessed the highest rate of violations compared to the past years, including 2011, when the authorities started to arrest and oppress media people, journalists and activists. According to Human rights reports and the findings of the Bahrain Independent Commission of Inquiry (BICI), that issued its final report on November 23, 2011, some of them were subjected to torture. Meanwhile, the association documented 288 violations within 2015 compared to 255 cases in 2011, whereas the violations of freedom of expression decreased in the rest of the years to less than the half.

BPA documented in its report a total of 894 violations against people working in the media sector and against political and human rights activists within the past five years, in which the media people and photographers received the lion’s share of these violations. The report, moreover, highlights that 59% of these violations were practiced against media people and photographers in a clear targeting to the freedom of media and press.

The online activists were also among the most prominent victims of freedom of expression. They were subjected to several violations; the finding of the report reveals that 16% of the total recorded violations were practiced against social media activists.

The association mentioned that the types of these violations varied between killing and summoning for investigation. The journalists, media people and activists have witnessed 10 types of violations. The association recorded 3 killing cases, despite their small number, they were the most brutal and violent. 29 cases were subjected to pressure, intimidation and frightening. Besides, 25 of the violations victims were physically assaulted and 22 others were subjected to torture.

The report unveils that 21 journalists, media people and activists were forced to leave their country throughout the past five years since they feared being arrested or tortured, whereas 110 people were summoned for investigation. 109 were imprisoned and judicial measures were taken against 73 of them.

In the framework of its policy against freedom of expression, the Bahraini authorities conducted arbitral dismissing to 69 of the journalists, media people and activists were dismissed from their jobs for reasons related to freedom of opinion and expression. Meanwhile, 66 cases faced internal pressure within their jobs.

The association detected in its report five charges; these charges were the most prominent ones with respect to the cases of freedom of expression. The charge of inciting hatred against the regime was the most common one followed by the charge of misusing the social media. The charge of insulting the king came in the third place followed by the charge of assembling and insulting a statutory body.

However, with respect to restriction on the media establishments, the report showed that the “Al-Wasat” newspaper was the most targeted one by the authorities. The Bahraini government stopped the issuance of the newspaper and prevented its circulation twice. The “Al-Arab” channel also fell a victim to the government’s policies that target the media. The Bahraini authorities brought the work of the “Al-Arab” channel to a halt in February 2015 over broadcasting an interview held with one of the Bahraini opposition figure.

The BPA affirmed that there is no way to guarantee real freedoms in the field of media and press unless five essential measures are implemented; these measures would make a remarkable shift in this field that is being subjected to a group of ongoing violations.

“A modern law for press” heads the list of urgent measures to guarantee real freedoms in the areas of media and journalism, in addition to “the government’s break up of monopolies of visual and audio media”, “not interfering in the media contents”, “lifting the ban on websites” and “stopping targeting the media people and internet activists”.

In addition to it is own monthly and yearly publications, Bahrain Press Association has used the publications of “Reporter without Borders”, “Human Rights Watch”, “Committee to Protect Journalists,” “Freedom House”, “Bahrain Center for Human Rights” and “Bahrain 19” to prepare its documenting report about the violations of freedom of opinion and expression throughout the five past years.