Posted on 02/28/2005 5:52:52 PM PST by fight_truth_decay
In the United States the discourse about bloggers has mostly concerned whether they pose a risk to traditional media. In some other countries, the authorities apparently are worried that bloggers pose a threat to government control.
The blogger community is already abuzz over the cases of several Iranian bloggers—Arash Sigarchi, who has been sentenced to 14 years in prison; Mojtaba Saminejad, who is apparently in jail awaiting trial; and Mohamad Reza Nasab Abdolahi, who has been sentenced to six months behind bars, reportedly for insulting the country's leaders.
It's not that surprising that Iran—a member of Dubya's "axis of evil," where Human Rights Watch says the authorities "systematically suppress freedom of expression and opinion"—would put the squeeze on bloggers.
But now, according to the Committee to Protect Bloggers, another Middle Eastern country—this one a U.S. ally—has cracked down on a blog: Bahraini blogger Ali Abdulemam was taken in for questioning on Sunday. According to the blog Babbling Bahrainia, Abdulemam's Bahrainonline.org "is the beacon of free speech for those who manage to find a proxy to get in from Bahrain, voicing highly critical opinions of the government."
The Defense Department reports that as of September 30, 2004, the U.S. military has 1,700 personnel (see the stats here, in pdf) in Bahrain, mostly from the Navy (It's the HQ for the 5th Fleet). That makes the tiny country the biggest U.S. base in the Middle East next to Iraq.
1. Questioning royal status 2. Inciting hatred against the regime 3. Spreading news that destabilises national security 4. Violating the press law 5. Violating the communication law
The majority of users feel responsible for Abdulemam's incarceration as he is taking the flack for what they write.
Tuesday, March 01, 2005 http://bahraniat.blogspot.com/
A hard choice Our boys, Ali, Mohammed and Hussain will be forced to face a difficult choice: close BahrainOnline.org, wipe out the database or face SEVERE consequences. Will they stand by their principles and rights to free speech and forsake their future? This is the choice they are facing right now in that interrogation room.
Ali was the visionary of this project, Mohammed was the brains, Hussain was the voice. They're identities were never secret. Which one will break under pressure? I'm sure they now realise this is no joke and the government is DEAD serious on closing this site down. How long can it go on clamping down on its people - banning foreign participants to conferences, arresting people collecting signatures for a petition, threatening the closure of political societies, arresting a human rights activist, living on royal whims, blocking websites and now this.
Giving-in was never a choice. Thats what one of them last said to me. Thanks to the Committee for the Protection of Bloggers, Muscati, VillageVoice, Buzzmachine, Jowhara's Chamber, Kuwait Unplugged, NatashaTynes as well as all the other Bahraini bloggers for raising this in your blogs. What else can we do? How do we know this isnt just some blogger frenzy and that the authorities are hearing this??
I leave you with the perfect quote by Global Soul:
People who are being detained, questioned, and imprisoned for practicing a fundamental human right: EXPRESSION are in fact sending a stronger message through their ordeal…a message that strengthens the voice of those who were already active…and awakens those who were asleep.
posted by Bahrania at 3/1/2005 12:06:00 AM
CUT The Iranian government is sending a message to its critics: keep silent or face years in prison.
Widney Brown, deputy program director of Human Rights Watch
Bahrainonline is one of the biggest Bahraini sites on the internet, and famed for the space it provides for free speech on all issues of national and cultural interest inside and outside of Bahrain. A number of political and legal bodies have issued past statements that ‘reject the repeated closure of the website, and ask for the authorities to allow visitors inside Bahrain to browse this site freely and to seek civilised means of legal proceedings rather than carrying out arbitrary security decisions and measures’. http://bahraniat.blogspot.com/2005/02/bahraini-blogger-interrogatedarrested.html
Thanks for posting this article.
First they came for the Iranian bloggers, and I did nothing...
Thanks for this important information.
I hope none of these were bloggers who have posted here.
Of course, once the "loopholes" in "campaign finance" "law" are fixed, the same situation will apply here.
The Internet is the arena of two conflicting objectives of the Bahraini government: its bid to become "the telecommunications hub of the Gulf"(74) and its determination to suppress information critical of the rule of the Al Khalifa family. Authorities have on the one hand promoted the Internet, making access available since 1995 and easy to obtain. No authorization is required to launch a web site. Several Internet cafés serve the public. On the other hand, the security services are aware that the Bahraini opposition has skillfully used the Internet to collect and disseminate information. They have blocked web sites and reportedly employ technical experts to assist in conducting surveillance of Internet use.
According to one Bahraini professor who was interviewed in February 1999 and requested anonymity, "the situation of the Internet is good, better than the overall human rights situation, because the government understands its importance for maintaining a competitive business edge, especially in a service economy." Bahrain's constitution guarantees freedom of speech, of the press, printing and publication, "in accordance with the conditions and procedure specified by the law." It also guarantees privacy of postal, telegraphic and telephonic communications. Article 26 states, "No communications shall be censored nor the contents thereof revealed except in cases of necessity prescribed by the law and in accordance with the procedures and guarantees stated therein."
Despite these constitutional provisions, authorities exercise sweeping control over all local media and make public criticism of government officials and policies off-limits. According to the U.S. State Department's Country Reports on Human Rights Practices for 1998, "Telephone calls and correspondence are subject to monitoring. Police informer networks are extensive and sophisticated. During the year, the Government frequently infringed on citizens' right to privacy, using illegal searches and arbitrary arrests as tactics to control political unrest....E-mail access to information is unimpeded, although it may be subject to monitoring."
(New York, September 30, 2004) — The Bahrain government should rescind an order that closed one of the country’s leading human rights organizations, Human Rights Watch said today. The closure of the Bahrain Center for Human Rights on Wednesday follows the arrest last week of its vice-president, `Abd al-Hadi al-Khawaja, after he publicly criticized the prime minister.
Al-Khawaja was detained on Saturday, September 25, a day after he criticized Prime Minister Shaikh Khalifa al-Khalifa for the country’s current economic problems and past human rights abuses.
“The government’s crude attempt to silence its critics completely undermines Bahrain’s claims to be moving toward a more democratic political order,” said Sarah Leah Whitson, executive director of the Middle East and North Africa division of Human Rights Watch. “We hope the authorities will rethink this ill-considered order against the human rights center and drop its bogus investigation of `Abd al-Hadi Khawaja.”
The Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs order, dated September 28 and delivered to the Bahrain Center for Human Rights at around 1 p.m. the following day, dissolved the center, effective immediately. It also named an official to audit its books and activities. The order prohibits the center from resuming any activities, confiscates its funds, and requires it to surrender its documents to the authorities. The center’s president, Nabeel Rajab, told Human Rights Watch that electricity to the group’s office has been cut off and that he and other staff have been forbidden to enter the premises.
The minister of labor, Majid al-Allawi, reportedly said that the human rights organization had failed to heed his earlier warnings that its outspokenness on “political” matters violated Law 21 (1989) governing associations.
“Laws that allow the government to clamp down on free speech and freedom of association remain a big problem in Bahrain,” Whitson said. “This is a drastic setback to the efforts of Bahrainis to enjoy basic internationally protected civil liberties.”
Interesting...
First they came for the Iranian bloggers, and I did nothing...
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