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.”