…from beneath the crooked bough, witness 230 years of brutal tyranny by the al Khalifas come to an end
Random header image... Refresh for more!

Arab Spring – shut up. Silencing the voice of protest unto democracy and defense of human rights

by Courtesy

Arab Spring and repression continue from Rabat to Manama
Published on Thursday 4 August 2011 – Reporters Without Borders

While Bahrain and Saudi Arabia use mainly technical means (including satellite jamming and website blocking) to obstruct media freedom, Yemen and Syria continue to resort to violence. Blogger and reporters covering pro-democracy demonstrations have also been roughed up in Morocco.
BAHRAIN

Lualua TV, a satellite TV station launched by 15 members of the Bahraini opposition on 17 July in London, has been jammed since the first day despite changing frequency regularly. According to Eutelsat, the jamming is being orchestrated from Bahrain. Lualua TV wanted to broadcast from Bahrain but it was repeatedly denied permission. It is still managing to broadcast on the Hotbird satellite.

In a 24 July press release, the head of Lualua TV said: “A lot of hard work has gone into this channel and we are extremely disappointed that we have had trouble broadcasting our message. It comes as no surprise that the source of the jamming is Bahrain. It is as we had expected. We have followed all regulations in the creation of this station and we will not allow this setback to stop us from broadcasting permanently. We are hoping that the interference has now ended, but if it returns we will just have to find other ways to reinforce our message.”
SAUDI ARABIA

The Saudi authorities have been blocking access to the newspaper Al-Akhbar’s website because of its coverage of events in Bahrain, including the Saudi military intervention.

Amnesty International meanwhile reported on 26 July that its website was rendered inaccessible from within Saudi Arabia after it posted comments criticised a Saudi anti-terrorism bill that aims to reduce the impact on Saudi Arabia of the uprisings in other Arab countries (http://www.dw-world.de/dw/article/9…).

Shelved in 2003, and revived in response to the wave of Arab revolts, the bill would allow the authorities to prosecute anyone suspected of criticising the king or the crown prince. Its deliberately vague wording would leave room for arbitrary interpretation, restricting free speech and media freedom even more in Saudi Arabia. Like many other international NGOs in recent days, Reporters Without Borders urges the Saudi authorities drop this bill, which would violate its international obligations.

Regarded by Reporters Without Borders as an “Enemy of the Internet,” Saudi Arabia is currently blocking more 1,200 websites (list: http://www.albayan.ae/24-hours/2011…) …more