Bahrain Press Association launches its eighth report Bahrain 2017: As If Nothing Had Happened…
London, UK, 3 May 2018 – Bahrain Press Association (BPA): As Bahraini journalists join the world in celebrating the World Press Freedom Day in 2018, Bahrain Press Association is grieved to consider the year 2017 as the year of a total crackdown on the press and media freedom in Bahrain.
The closure of ‘Al-Wasat’ newspaper, the only independent newspaper in the country, and the arbitrary dismissal of 150 of its staff members bring the country back to the atmosphere that preceded the reform project—as if nothing had happened. It is the time when newspapers and government media outlets present only the official state discourse, a discourse that is politically oriented and far from the reality of the political crisis in the country.
The very naming of the BPA’s 2017 annual report, Bahrain: As If Nothing Had Happened, indicates the setback press freedom is suffering. Since 2011 up until December 2017, the Association documented about 1441 cases of violations, most of which were against fundamental rights such as freedom of expression. Arrests and threating practices adopted by the government indicate a strict policy towards a complete adherence to the state’s discourse. As such, journalists and politicians have no right in holding any views in opposition to the state’s, not only concerning domestic issues but also regional ones, particularly the war on Yemen and the current Gulf crisis.
Hopes were that the political and security authorities in Bahrain adopt more moderate and affirmative policies, but the reality has not witnessed any progress.
With regard to the systematic targeting of media freedoms and freedom of expression, the Bahrain Press Association has documented 22 final judgments issued by Bahraini courts against journalists, photographers and Internet activists who have been convicted in explicit cases of opinion and expression.
The Association also recorded the arrest of at least 11 persons and 88 cases of investigation and interrogation under the same charges. In addition, four cases of obstruction of work and two cases of citizenship revocation. Among these recorded instances, there are at least 25 targeted Internet users, most of which are Twitter users, as Twitter has become a platform for the security apparatus to hunt down independent and opposition figures. The expulsion of the Bahraini citizen Ibrahim Karimi to Iraq this year upon convictions of managing “Freej Karimi’s” Twitter account is one of the most severe penalties on opinion and expression.
This year, the security complex of Muharraq, a branch of the National Security Agency, emerged as a prominent place for interrogating and threatening activists and journalists as well as torturing them. The Bahrain Press Association observed two cases of torture, death threats, and sexual assault on the lawyer Ibrahim Sarhan after a statement he gave to “Al-Mayadeen” TV channel following a sit-in dispersal. The other case was the activist Yusuf Al-Jamri, who emerged in recent years by covering the social and political events via his Twitter account.
In addition to the withdrawal of foreign reporters’ licenses, they were arrested and fined on charges of “working without a license.” Instances include journalist Nazeeha Saeed, a correspondent for Monte Carlo International Radio and France 24, and the detention of the AFP photographer Mohammad al-Sheikh for one day. This year, security forces shot tear gas canisters at the German News Agency (DPA) photographer Mazen Mehdi on two different occasions while covering protests—hitting him in the back once.
The Gulf crisis with Qatar represented one of the milestones that had a negative impact on the freedom of the press in Bahrain as the authorities imposed further restrictions on the press and media outlets this year. In official statements, the authorities banned citizens and the media from expressing any public views that are contrary to the official orientation, including “sympathy with Qatar.” In this context, two cases of arrest and interrogation of citizens were documented after video footages of them expressing independent positions towards the Qatari crisis went viral on social media. The first is the lawyer Issa Faraj Arehma al-Burashid and the second is captain Hamood Sultan, the former goalkeeper of the Bahraini national football team and a football pundit for the Qatari “Al Kass” sports channels.
The Bahrain Press Association condemns targeting journalists, bloggers, and photographers, which, it believes, has become a systematic and frequent behaviour. It is also one of the main reasons that led to the decline of Bahrain’s reputation at the international level in terms of freedom of the press. The Association calls on the United States, the United Kingdom, the United Nations and all international organizations and bodies concerned with defending freedom of opinion and expression, press and media freedoms to exert urgent pressure on the Bahraini government to:
- immediately and unconditionally release all photographers, media professionals, and activists detained for practicing their work in covering protests or exercising their right to freedom of opinion and expression;
- stop arbitrary prosecutions and arrests and judicial trials on charges of “insulting the king,” “spreading false statements” made against Internet activists and media professionals. Charges such as “protesting” for photographers, “inciting hatred of the regime” for politicians, and all charges pertaining to freedom of expression must be revoked;
- secure the freedom of media and the press and to shut down the Office of Internet Surveillance in the Ministry of Transportation and Telecommunication, and to abolish Law No. (47) that regulates the press, publishing, and printing in the country;
- end the authority’s monopoly of the television, radio and print media and enable the voice of opposition in the media, including reauthorizing the publication of Al-Wasat; and to
- invite the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the Promotion and Protection of the Right to Freedom of Opinion and Expression to schedule an urgent visit to Bahrain.
The Bahrain Press Association would like to express sincere gratitude to all those who contributed to the completion of this report, and to The National Endowment for Democracy (NED) in particular, for funding this report.