A Year of Crushing Voices in Bahrain

A year of blogging, threats and silence
Motivations for arresting bloggers differ between countries but the goal is always to silence “threatening” voices.
30 Dec 2011 – AlJazeera – by Jillian York

In 2009, Iranian blogger Omidreza Mirsayafi became the first blogger ever to die in prison. That year alone, a year referred to by a senior US State Department official as “the worst year in the history of the internet as it related to internet freedom”, no fewer than 35 bloggers around the world languished in prison.

While by no means a new phenomenon – Tunisia arrested its first blogger back in 2000 – the events of 2009 escalated risk for netizens across the world, as governments quickly awakened to the “threat” posed by bloggers and social media users. This year, as an increasing number of citizens have taken up cyber-arms, protesting online as well as on the street, governments have broadened their attacks on netizens. No longer content to simply censor content, countries like Syria and Bahrain have upped the ante, employing online propagandists and intimidating those who dare speak out online.

Still others – such as Thailand -utilise draconian laws to hold online publishers responsible for comments, a practice which has chilling effects for all internet users. There is no single organisation that tracks every blogger arrest around the world; indeed, doing so would be a full-time job.

Nevertheless, statistics compiled by tireless groups such as Global Voices, Reporters Without Borders and the Committee to Protect Journalists suggest 2011 to be among the worst years yet for online free expression, marred by the persecution of bloggers and social media users in a number of states. Below are five of the worst.

Bahrain

The tiny Gulf country’s blogosphere has always been lively, with a sense of openness and national pride. But in early 2011, as government crackdowns left protesters reeling and national monuments tumbling down, bloggers were amid the government’s targets. On March 30 and April 5, respectively, authorities briefly detained two of the country’s most prominent bloggers, Mahmood Al-Yousif and Mohamed El-Maskati.

And tragically, blogger Zakariya Rashid Hassan Al-Ashiri became the second blogger to die in prison, just weeks after his initial arrest. Authorities claimed his death to be a result of complications of a pre-existing condition, but photographs released by his family show evidence of serious recent abuse.

Throughout the year, the social media landscape in the country has become increasingly polarised, with some bloggers reporting the practice of self-censorship, rather than risking arrest. In July, many bloggers’ fears were reflected in the sentencing of prominent bloggers Ali Abdulemam (who was previously jailed in 2005 for insulting the regime on his site, BahrainOnline.org) and Abduljalil Alsingace to 15 years in prison. Abdulemam, who was sentenced in absentia, remains in hiding.

More recently, blogger Zainab Al-Khawaja, who tweets prolifically as @angryarabiya, was beaten and arrested after taking part in a protest. Al-Khawaja’s father, Abdulhadi Al-Khawaja, is a prominent opposition figure sentenced in June to life imprisonment. …more