The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) has called on the Bahraini Minister of State for Information Affairs to show her commitment to the country’s media freedom and independence and drop her complaint against the respected journalist, Isa Alshaijj. The IFJ has also called on the Bahraini public prosecutor, not to press defamation charges against the journalist which would result in a...
A Bahraini court has sentenced freelance photojournalist Ahmed Humaidan to 10 years in jail on charges of participating in an attack on a police station. He has been imprisoned since December 2012. His family said authorities sought his arrest for months and raided his home five times in an attempt to arrest him, according to news reports. Humaidan, who published images on local opposition...
Authorities in Bahrain are arbitrarily detaining photographers who have covered protests and convicting them in unfair trials. Four award-winning Bahraini photographers are either in jail or facing criminal charges in what appears to be part of a policy that violates photographers’ right to freedom of expression. On June 22, 2014, Hussain Hubail, who won a 2013 award for his photographs of anti...
Wednesday's conviction of freelance photographer Ahmed Humaidan is an attempt by Bahraini authorities to censor independent and dissident voices in the lead-up to the Formula One race in April, the Committee to Protect Journalists has said. Humaidan, who has been imprisoned since December 2012, was sentenced to 10 years in jail, according to news reports. Humaidan was one of more than 30 other...
Al Arabiya TV correspondent Mohamed Al-Arab and cameraman Amjad Taha were attacked by a small group of demonstrators in the northern town of Al-Buddaya on February 15 while covering an opposition protest marking the third anniversary of the 2011 uprising. Reporters Without Borders called on the Bahraini authorities to investigate the incident thoroughly and to take appropriate measures to protect...
Reporters Without Borders has reiterated its condemnation of the arbitrary behaviour of the Bahraini judicial system, which has postponed the trials of several detained news and information providers in the past two weeks. The judicial authorities must abandon all the trumped-up charges they have brought against journalists just because they covered anti-government street protests, the media...
Haider Mohamed Al-Noaimi, a blogger and journalist who works for various media including the opposition newspaper Al-Wasat, was arrested by about 30 men who came to his home on the evening of April 24 and confiscated his computer and cameras before taking him away. They reportedly hit him during the raid. His Facebook profile, where he posted his articles, has been blocked since April 3. Another...
New York-based press freedom group Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) has called on Bahraini authorities to disclose the whereabouts of Haidar Mohammed al-Nuaimi, a columnist for daily newspaper Al-Wasat. Roughly 30 uniformed and plainclothes police raided al-Nuaimi's family home in Manama April 25, dragging him into the street and beating him, local journalists told CPJ. Al-Nuaimi was then...
The Committee to Protect Journalists called on Bahraini authorities today to conduct an immediate and transparent investigation into the death in state custody of Karim Fakhrawi, founder and board member of Al-Wasat, the country's premier independent daily. Fakhrawi died Tuesday, a week after he was apparently taken into custody, according to news reports. Human rights defenders told CPJ that...
The Committee to Protect Journalists called on Bahraini authorities to launch an immediate and thorough investigation into the death of a blogger while in state custody. Bahraini authorities, meanwhile, announced that they would file criminal charges against three senior editors at the Gulf kingdom's premier independent daily, continuing a months-long pattern of violence, harassment, and...
