BPA publishes its thirteenth annual report: Bahrain 2022: The Dead Island

London, United Kingdom – 3 May 2023 – Bahrain Press Association: On the World Press Freedom Day 2023, the Bahrain Press Association publishes its thirteenth annual report titled, “Bahrain 2022:The Dead Island”

During the year 2022, the BPA documented 41 infringements against journalists, media professionals, and civil society activists. Thus, the number of documented acts of infringement of freedom of expression since the February 2011 uprisings until December 2022 rises to about 1811 violations.

The title of this annual report, “Bahrain 2022: The Dead Island,” attempts to describe what the government stifling policies of freedom of expression had led to. Year after year, Bahrain is becoming a dead island where voice cannot live, nor do its inhabitants dare to express their opinions safely and freely. Bahrainis live in a closed circle of laws and regulations that can turn any expressed opinion into a crime punishable by law.

In the details of the violations recorded during the year 2022, the Bahrain Press Association documented 17 cases of interrogation and arrest, 9 judicial procedures, and other 15 various violations. The ongoing monitoring carried out by the Association since 2011 shows that 4 recurring charges topped most of what was brought against those who were summoned or whose cases were transferred to trials, namely: insulting a statutory body, spreading false news, insulting religious symbols, and defamation and slander. Lawsuits pertaining to the Internet, social media and mobile chat applications accounted for about 95% of the documented cases. 

The concerned authority in all these cases is usually the “General Directorate of Anti-Corruption and Economic and Electronic Security” of the Bahraini Ministry of Interior. The Directorate engages in direct censorship, investigation, summons, preliminary investigation and referral to the Public Prosecution. Nonetheless, this year, the role of the “National Communication Center” also clearly emerged to represent not only another challenge but rather a new opponent to the press and freedom of expression, especially the print media.Although the National Centre was established in 2016 for the purpose of unifying the government media discourse, its role has been growing steadily. It now controls the drafting of interviews and even news headlines. As a result, the different newspapers present similar content, as if they are one outlet carrying different names.

One of the prominent indicators observed this year is the increased complaints and lawsuits filed by the Ministry of Education against its critics. Most of the summons and trials that were held against citizens on charges of “insulting a statutory body” involved solely the Ministry of Education. The normalization agreement between Bahrain and Israel received widespread popular rejection through social media. Nonetheless, this denunciation was not shown in any way in the local media during the year 2022.

There was, and still is, great hope for change by appointing a new Prime Minister with broad powers. The government structure that the Crown Prince and Prime Minister, Prince Salman bin Hamad Al Khalifa, formed twice this year (13 June and 22 November) brought wide acclaim. However, this has not yet been reflected in any way on the reality of the press, media or freedoms in general.

Today, Bahrain ranks among the lowest international indicators of freedom of expression and political freedoms. It came the last of the six Arab Gulf states in the annual press freedom index issued by Reporters Without Borders organization in 2022. Freedom House Organization also continued to classify Bahrain as a “repressive, not free country” in its civil and political rights and liberties index.

Meanwhile, the BPA continues its appeal to the authorities to reconsider its stand and adopt a new reconciling approach that brings the country out of the tensions created by the 2011 crisis. Therefore, the Association urges the Government of Crown Prince and Prime Minister Prince Salman bin Hamad Al Khalifa to take a bold decision to stop the deterioration in media freedoms that has continued since 2011.

On the other hand, the Association condemns the government’s systematic and widespread behavior of targeting journalists, bloggers and people of opinion. The Association calls on the United Nations, Bahrain allies, and all international organizations and bodies concerned with defending the freedom of opinion and expression, and press and media freedoms for immediate intervention and to exert urgent pressure on the Bahraini government to:

• Immediately and unconditionally release all photographers, media professionals, and activists detained for practicing their work or exercising their right to freedom of expression.
• Adopt a more serious and open government policy towards the rights of journalists and civil society activists to enable them to exercise their constitutional and legal rights to express opinions and exercise the right to criticism without fear or targeting.
• Stop arbitrary prosecutions, arrests and judicial trials on charges of “inciting hatred of the regime”, “misusing social media” and all what restricts freedom of expression.
• Secure freedoms of media and the press, and reconsider the work priorities of the Anti-Corruption and Economic and Electronic Security Administration, especially with regard to monitoring cyber activists.
• Put an end to 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 newspaper.
• Call on 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 BPA 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.

end of report

To read the full report, click here