Bahrain

2012

  

Journalist deaths spike in 2012 due to Syria, Somalia

Syrian violence contributed to a sharp rise in the number of journalists killed for their work in 2012, as did a series of murders in Somalia. The dead include a record proportion of journalists who worked online. A CPJ special report

Read More ›

Bahrain acquits officer on charges of torturing a journalist

New York, October 24, 2012–CPJ is alarmed by a Bahraini court’s acquittal of a police officer accused of torturing a journalist in custody in 2011. A criminal court in Manama on Monday acquitted police officer Sara al-Moussa on charges of torturing Nazeeha Saeed, a reporter for France24 and Radio Monte Carlo Doualiya, while the journalist…

Read More ›

Critical Bahraini journalist detained for four months

New York, September 13, 2012–The Committee to Protect Journalists is concerned about the ongoing imprisonment of Ahmed Radhi, a freelance journalist who was first detained four months ago after making critical comments about Bahraini-Saudi relations. Radhi now faces terrorism and other anti-state charges which he says were lodged after he was abused and forced into…

Read More ›

Bahrain should scrap life sentence of blogger Alsingace

New York, September 6, 2012–Bahraini authorities should toss out the unjust conviction and life sentence handed to an online journalist who was imprisoned for exercising his right to free expression during the country’s 2011 popular uprising, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today.

Read More ›

From left: Anas al-Tarsha, 17, Syria; Ahmed Addow Anshur, 24, Somalia; Mahad Salad Adan, 20, Somalia; Hassan Osman Abdi, 24, Somalia; Mazhar Tayyara, 24, Syria.

Syria, Somalia, Bahrain–where fathers bury their sons

The 17-year-old videographer Anas al-Tarsha regularly filmed clashes and military movements in the city of Homs in Syria, and posted the footage on YouTube. On February 24, he was killed by a mortar round while filming the bombardment of the city’s Qarabees district, according to news reports. The central city had been under attack for…

Read More ›

A protester in Jidhafs, Bahrain. (AP/Hasan Jamali)

For journalists, danger lurking in your email

This week, Morgan Marquis-Boire and Bill Marczak of the University of Toronto’s Citizen Lab provided a disturbing look into the likely use of a commercial surveillance program, FinFisher, to remotely invade and control the computers of Bahraini activists. After the software installs itself onto unsuspecting users’ computer, it can record and relay emails, screenshots, and…

Read More ›

Protesters hold tear-gas canisters at an anti-U.S. protest held to condemn the sales of arms to Bahrain, in the village of Diraz west of Manama Thursday. Reuters/Hamad I Mohammed)

Bahrain arrests critical journalist

New York, May 17, 2012–A journalist who criticized Bahrain’s proposed union with Saudi Arabia was seized from his home near Manama on Wednesday and his whereabouts are unknown. The Committee to Protect Journalists called today for his immediate release.

Read More ›

CPJ
King Hamad bin Issa al-Khalifa's government breaks a promise to allow an international mission to assess free expression in Bahrain. (AP/Hasan Jamali)

Breaking pledge, Bahrain bars free expression mission

Reneging on a promise made just weeks earlier, Bahraini authorities have denied visas to representatives of several free expression organizations who planned to travel to the kingdom next week to assess press and free speech conditions. CPJ is among several organizations that have signed a joint letter to Bahrain’s director of human rights organizations condemning the action.…

Read More ›

Police check journalist IDs outside the Formula One races on Sunday. Authorities have restricted and suppressed journalists in the run-up to the races. (AP/Hassan Ammar)

Bahrain cracks down on news around Formula One races

New York, April 23, 2012–Bahraini authorities, intent on suppressing coverage of the restive political conditions that were a backdrop to the Formula One Grand Prix in Manama on Sunday, arrested at least seven international journalists who were seeking to report on anti-government demonstrations, according to news reports.

Read More ›

Police used sound grenades Wednesday to disperse an anti-government rally demanding the release of human rights activists in Manama. (Reuters/Darren Whiteside)

CPJ in joint call for release of bloggers, activists in Bahrain

CPJ is among 50 organizations that have signed a joint letter to Bahrain’s king calling for the release of detained bloggers, activists, and human rights defenders and to drop all charges that violate the right to peaceful expression ahead of the Formula One motor racing event to be held in Manama on April 22.

Read More ›

2012