Right: Radhika Sainath and Left:Huwaida Arraf

Government Cracks Down on International Witnesses as Bahrainis Prepare for Return to Pearl Roundabout

WitnessBahrain - February 12, 2011

(Manama) – Radhika Sainath and Huwaida Arraf, arrested yesterday while filming police repression of a peaceful demonstration in Manama, have been deported by the Bahraini government.

At approximately 10:00 am this morning, Ms Sainath and Ms Arraf were put on a plane for New York via London, less than fifteen hours after being taken into custody by Bahraini riot police.

10 Feb 2012

Reporters Without Borders has registered a series of freedom of information violations in Bahrain in the run-up to the first anniversary of the uprising in this Gulf kingdom on 14 February. They include a refusal to issue visas to a number of foreign journalists for the anniversary, when demonstrations are expected.

Sheikh Fawaz Ben Mohammed Al-Khalifa, the head of the Information Affairs Agency, claimed in a statement yesterday that some journalists had not received visas because of the "high volume of requests" for the 11 to 18 February period.

Reporters Without Borders dismisses the claim as spurious.

February 9th, 2012

In 2011, after the authorities cracked down on protests in the Pearl Roundabout, King of Bahrain announced the National Safety Law (Emergency Law), and Bahrain has gone through serious violations of human rights.

Weeks before the first anniversary of the protests, the specter of the National Safety Law – Emergency Law – back again:

1) According to information the Bahrain Youth Society for Human Rights (BYSHR), authorities arrested more than 100 people since last January, during the arrest, the security forces, and forces in civilian clothes – masked men – stormed the house and did not show the permission of the Attorney General.The BYSHR documented allegations of torture.

New York, February 9, 2012--Bahrain has rejected at least six journalists' applications for entry visas ahead of the anniversary of antigovernment protests that swept the country in February 2011, according to news reports. The Committee to Protect Journalists calls on authorities to allow journalists into the country to carry out their work freely.

Several international journalists wrote on Twitter over the past two days that their visa applications had been denied.

Beirut, 09 February, 2012 --- Courageous defender of human rights and the main founder of the Gulf Centre for Human Rights, Abdulhadi al-Khawaja, announced from jaw prison, on Wednesday, 8 February, 2012, that he begins an indefinite hunger strike. The distinguished human rights defender told his family in a telephone call, that he is starting a hunger strike to "freedom or death."

February 7, 2012

The Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders, a joint programme of the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH) and the World Organisation Against Torture (OMCT), has received new information and requests your urgent intervention in the following situation in Bahrain.

New Information:

The Observatory has been informed by reliable sources about the ongoing judicial harassment faced by Mr. Mohamed Issa Al Tajer, a prominent human rights lawyer.

FEBRUARY 8, 2012
BY SARA YASIN

Yesterday, Bahraini authorities denied visas to a number foreign journalists ahead of the anniversary of Bahrain’s 14 February uprising. Journalists from the New York Times, Christian Science Monitor, the Wall Street Journal, the BBC, Associated Foreign Press, and Al-Jazeera English were all denied visas “due to the high volume of applications”. Local activists expect a violent crackdown on 14 February, as protesters have vowed to return to the now closed Pearl Roundabout.

Its Government Has Yet to Deliver on Accountability, Reforms

FEBRUARY 8, 2012

(Washington, DC) - The Obama administration’s decision to move forward on a $1 million arms sale to Bahrain sends the wrong signal to a country that is engaged in serious human rights abuses, Human Rights Watch said today.

“Bahrain has made many promises to cease abuses and hold officials accountable, but it hasn’t delivered,” said Maria McFarland, deputy Washington director at Human Rights Watch. “Protesters remain jailed on criminal charges for peacefully speaking out and there has been little accountability for torture and killings – crimes in which the Bahrain Defense Force is implicated.”

08 Feb 2012
The Bahrain Youth Society for Human Rights (BYSHR) has just learned that human rights defender and previous MENA Coordinator for Frontline Defenders, Mr.Abdulhadi Alkhawaja, that he would begin a hunger strike from today (February 8, 2012).

Mr.AlKhawaja said in a telephone call to his family, “Freedom or Death”, which means he started an open hunger strike until his release.

09 Feb 2012

The General Secretary of (National Union of Teachers), UK's largest teacher's union, has written to the British Ambassador in Bahrain to call for release of detained Bahrain teachers and request UK's diplomatic representatives in Bahrain attend the appeals on 19th February. You can view the letter here.