Bahrain, Kingdom of Silence
Toby C. Jones May 4, 2011 comments

An eerie silence and a paralyzing sense of fear currently grip Bahrain. Since mid-March, when tens of thousands of protesters last took to the streets demanding political reform, Bahraini security and military forces have engaged in an ongoing, systematic, and brutal campaign to crush the country’s pro-democracy forces. The crackdown has been sweeping and shocking. Dozens of activists have been killed. Hundreds more have been imprisoned and tortured. Bahrain’s leading independent newspaper, al-Wasat, is expected to close down on May 10.

Provocative government actions belie claims that all the monarchy seeks is to re-establish law and order. It is apparent, instead, that the government is using martial law to carry out a vendetta against those who challenged the authority of the ruling al-Khalifa. Checkpoints have been set up to harass the country’s Shi’i citizens, who make up the majority of Bahrain’s native population and of its political opposition. Security forces have laid siege to the island’s hospitals and arrested scores of medical personnel, in what appears to be an especially inhumane and spiteful kind of intimidation. For weeks police and pro-regime supporters roamed the streets of Shi’i villages destroying cars and other property. Those who supported the protests now fear leaving their homes, lest they be publicly accosted or, worse, arrested and disappeared.

The regime is also taking dramatic steps to quiet critics. Authorities have targeted newspapers, journalists, and bloggers in order to stymie public criticism, to control reporting about the scale of the crackdown, and to frighten into silence those who might speak out. In the last few weeks Bahraini blogs and twitter feeds that are normally vibrant have gone quiet, stunned into submission by the brutality of what is happening around them.

And they have reason to fear. Those who have spoken out or who have attempted to report events going on around them are paying a high price. …more

Bahrain’s Al Wasat daily to shut down next week
Heavy financial losses force Al Wasat newspaper in Bahrain to shut down

By Habib Toumi, Bureau Chief
Published: 18:20 May 3, 2011 Gulf News

Manama: Al Wasat daily, one of the five Arabic dailies in Bahrain, said that it would shut down next week, citing heavy financial losses.

The decision was supported by 18 board members and opposed by 14 at a meeting held on Monday to decide on the paper’s future after it waded into controversy last month and its editor in chief Mansoor Al Jamri resigned.

The daily was accused by the official media authority of misleading the public by publishing stories that were reportedly lifted from Palestinian and Moroccan newspapers and that created negative feelings about the security situation in Bahrain.

The daily’s former editor-in-chief, editor and local news editor were questioned by the public prosecutor over the issue.

Media sources said that the daily started facing advertisement problems and investors did not wish to take further risks and lose money. …more

In Bahrain, World Press Non-Freedom Day
Written bySolana Larsen
Posted 3 May 2011 22:28 GMT

Today is World Press Freedom Day, a day that is being commiserated more than celebrated in many nations, including Bahrain, where journalists and bloggers are currently under siege by government.

Ironically, one of those world leaders celebrating World Press Freedom Day is King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa of Bahrain, one of 38 heads of state who have been named “predators of press freedom” by Reporters Without Borders. He issued a statement today saying that he believes “a free, impartial and independent Press is the backbone of democratic development.”

However, he also offered a few disclaimers, encouraging media to “move away from provoking hatred” as well as from provoking “violence, vandalism or terrorism” and “breaking the law or violating public morals and people’s dignity.”

Though the king said that “no one will be harmed because of peaceful and civilised expressions of opinion under the law,” more than 70 journalists, online writers, and bloggers have recently been fired, arrested, or threatened in Bahrain, according to an online spreadsheet released by Bahrain Center for Human Rights today.

Nearly 20 of those mentioned on the spreadsheet are bloggers or online activists. Among them is the founder of Al Dair online forum, Zakariya Al Aushayri, who died in prison on April 9, 2011. Others have been arrested, interrogated, or classified as “traitors”. Founder of BahrainOnline.org and Global Voices Advocacy contributor Ali Abdulemam was previously arrested and is now living undercover within Bahrain. …more

Bahraini authorities have referred 47 medics to a military court after accusing them of abusing their posts to take part in anti-regime protests that were crushed in March.

The defendants include 24 doctors and 23 nurses, the kingdom’s Information Affairs Authority (IAA) said in a statement late Tuesday, adding that the military prosecution has already leveled several charges against them.

Authorities set up a military court after King Hamad declared a state of national safety, a lower level of emergency, a day before security forces crushed a Shiite-dominated month-long protest demanding democratic reforms.

The medics have all worked at the Salmaniya Medical Complex in Manama, which was stormed by security forces after they drove protesters on March 16 out of the nearby Pearl Square – the focal point of protests inspired by uprisings that have swept the Arab world.

At the time, Bahraini state media accused medics who sympathized with the protesters of occupying the SMC and turning it into a protest ground. …more

As Saudi-backed Bahraini authorities prepared to carry out death sentences against four anti-government protesters for the murder of two security officers, forces loyal to King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa continued their campaign of arresting physicians and nurses to make it impossible for them see and treat wounds allegedly inflicted by government gunmen.

Twenty-three doctors and 24 nurses were arrested yesterday and charged with a laundry list of crimes including, embezzlement of public funds, physical assault on civilians, assault leading to death, possession of unlicensed weapons and ammunition, failure to carry out their employment duties, in aims of hindering medical work, consequently endangering people’s health and lives, attempting to forcefully occupying a public building, efforts to bring down and change the regime by illegal means,
inciting hatred against the governing regime, promoting sectarian hate, spreading false news and rumors that harm public interest, and participating in unlicensed protests and rallies.

The arrests included Dr. Ahmed Jamal, president of the Bahrain Medical Society. …more