Bahrain Authorities Declare War on Media in All its Forms
Bahrain Authorities Declare War on Media in All its Forms
ANHRI has condemned today the Bahraini authorities for blocking the access to the dependent Al-Qudus Al-Arabi newspaper website on Monday 23th May 2011 in Bahrain.
Wednesday, May 25,2011 10:31 – IkhwanWeb
ANHRI has condemned today the Bahraini authorities for blocking the access to the dependent Al-Qudus Al-Arabi newspaper website on Monday 23th May 2011 in Bahrain. The blocking decision has been taken in the wake of publishing an article the editor-in-chief Abdel Bari Atwan has written under the title “the Saudi intervention in Bahrain is very dangerous”. Atwan has criticized Saudi Arabia for sending one thousand soldiers to participate in suppressing the peaceful demonstrations in Bahrain, considering this to be an unprecedented intervention in a crisis that one the region sovereign countries is facing and warning of a possible sectarian tension which may lead to a regional war.
This action is a new phase within a series of measures taken to suppress the general freedom in the kingdom in the wake of the peaceful protests which the Bahraini authorities has dramatically succeeded in suppressing due to the help of the Saudi military forces. Since then the Bahraini authorities have specifically targeted media, internet, and human rights activists.
In 21 March 2011, the Bahraini government has revoked all licenses belonging to the 2Connect company owned by Ibrahim Sherif, president of Al Waad opposition party, few days later after his arrest for participating in the peaceful protests.
On Saturday 2 April, the Bahraini authorities have issued a resolution to close the independent “Al Wassat”, a newspaper that does not support the government nor the opposition, just because it has published news about the protests in Bahrain.
Also the notable human rights activist Nabil Ragab, president of Bahrain Human Rights Center, has been investigated by the martial prosecutor after being charged of posting fake photos on twitter blog that show signs of torture on the body of Ali Issa Sakr, a citizen who died in the jail in 9 April 2011, before the assault on his home with tear gas grenades for the second time on Saturday 21 May 2011 by dawn. …more