The editor of the daily Al-Watan, Mahnad Abu Zeiytoun, was attacked and stabbed by two masked men as he left the newspaper’s offices near the capital, Manama, at around 3 a.m. Wednesday.
After asking him if he worked for Al-Watan, they tried to stab him in the face and heart but missed their targets. They set fire to his car with Molotov cocktails before fleeing. Zeiytoun was rushed to hospital with injuries to the right arm and various parts of the body.
“Squeezed between the security services on the one hand and radical groups on the other, the space for the press freedom is shrinking in Bahrain,” Paris-based press freedom group Reporters sans Frontières (RSF) said. “The kingdom’s authorities need to assure the safety of journalists in accordance with its constitution and the international treaties it has signed. Every effort must be made to shed light on this murder attempt.”
Blogger and human rights activist Abdeljalil Al-Singace, who was arrested on August 13 on returning from a seminar in London on the worsening human rights situation in Bahrain, is meanwhile still being held in an unknown location. His family has still not received any word of him and his lawyers have not been able to contact him.
"We are deeply shocked by this vicious assault and possible assassination attempt against a leading Bahraini journalist," said Aidan White, International Federation of Jornalists (IFJ) General Secretary. "The authorities must do everything they can to bring the attackers to justice and guarantee the safety of Bahrain's journalists."
The Bahrain Journalists' Association (BJA), an IFJ affiliate, issued a statement condemning the targeting of journalists who have been reporting on the growing violence in Bahrain. "This attack mustn't pass without arresting the perpetrators and bringing them to justice" the association said, adding "this attack will not stop the journalists from doing their noble mission."
IFJ, which has opened an office in the kingdom to promote its Ethical Journalism Initiative campaign is concerned that Bahraini journalists who are spearheading professional and independent journalism in the region may face intimidation from forces determined to hold them back. "We support journalists in Bahrain as they assert their right to ethical and independent reporting," added White. "We assure them of our solidarity in their fight against all forms of violence and intimidation."
