More Bahraini Journalists Detained, others still missing

Five Bahraini journalists detained; Parvaz still missing
by cpj.org

New York, May 17, 2011–Bahrain’s crackdown against journalists continues unabated with five new detentions in less than a week, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today. Syria and Iran, one of which is holding Al-Jazeera English journalist Dorothy Parvaz, continue to make intentionally vague or misleading remarks about her whereabouts and physical condition. Meanwhile, Libya announced today that four detained journalists would be released imminently.

In Bahrain, freelance journalist and commentator Abbas al-Murshid was summoned to appear at a police station on Sunday, according to Arabic-language blogs, the Bahrain Center for Human Rights (BCHR), and a Facebook page calling for his release. Al-Murshid is a frequent contributor to the Bahraini daily Al-Waqt as well as numerous online publications, where he has written about Bahrain’s social unrest, corruption, institutional discrimination and other topics considered sensitive by the government. On Monday, al-Murshid called his family to tell them that he has been placed under arrest and then the line was disconnected, BCHR said.

At least four photographers have also been detained in Bahrain in recent days, CPJ research shows. Mohamed al-Sheikh, a freelance photographer and president of the Bahrain Society of Photographers, was arrested in his home on Wednesday, regional online media and blogs report. On Sunday, photographers Ali al-Kufi, Saeed Dhahi, and Hassan al-Nasheet were also taken into custody and had their footage and equipment confiscated, according to BCHR. A human rights campaigner in Bahrain told CPJ that all four photographers had taken pictures of civil unrest in Bahrain and of the government’s violent crackdown, while BCHR said that the confiscations were likely an effort to prevent revealing photographs from reaching a mass audience. …more