2016 prison census - Bahrain: Mahmoud al-Jaziri
| Publisher | Committee to Protect Journalists |
| Publication Date | 1 December 2016 |
| Cite as | Committee to Protect Journalists, 2016 prison census - Bahrain: Mahmoud al-Jaziri, 1 December 2016, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/586cb8f3c.html [accessed 5 June 2023] |
| Disclaimer | This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States. |
| Mahmoud al-Jaziri, Al-Wasat | |
|---|---|
| Medium: | |
| Charge: | Anti-State |
| Imprisoned: | December 28, 2015 |
Police arrested Mahmoud al-Jaziri from his home in Nabih Saleh Island, south of the capital Manama, on the morning of December 28, 2015. He was allowed to call his brother later that day to say he was being held as part of a criminal investigation, local human rights groups and his paper Al-Wasat reported.
The Interior Ministry named al-Jaziri, a reporter for the independent daily Al-Wasat, as among those arrested for allegedly plotting terrorist attacks funded by the Iranian Revolutionary Guard and Hezbollah, according to a January 1, 2016 report by the official Bahrain News Agency. That announcement came amid a diplomatic rift between Iran and Saudi Arabia and its allies, including Bahrain, after Saudi Arabia executed prominent Shiite cleric Nimr Al-Nimr. It also followed years of official persecution -- including the 2011 death in custody of a founding investor -- of Al-Wasat staff.
On January 4, 2016, two days after al-Nimr's execution, al-Jaziri was referred to a special prosecutor for terrorist crimes who charged him with supporting terrorism, inciting hatred of the regime, having contacts with a foreign country, and seeking to overthrow the regime by joining the banned political group, the Al-Wafaa Islamic Party, and the February 14 Youth Movement, which have organized anti-government protests since the 2011 uprising, according to news reports. The Interior Ministry statement carried by Bahrain News Agency listed al-Jaziri and three other co-accused as members of an armed wing of Al-Wafaa that was plotting bombings in cooperation with Iran's Revolutionary Guard and Hezbollah.
Mansoor al-Jamri, editor-in-chief of Al-Wasat and CPJ's 2011 International Press Freedom Awardee, told CPJ that al-Jaziri denied the charges and told prosecutors his relationship with Al-Wafaa did not extend beyond proofreading the group's public statements, an activity he stopped after becoming a professional journalist in 2012. Al-Jamri said al-Jaziri covers parliamentary news for Al-Wasat.
Al-Jaziri was arrested on the same day that a report he had written was published on a member of parliament's proposal to deny housing to Bahrainis whose citizenship had been revoked for political activities.
Over the course of 2013-14, he wrote a series of opinion articles for Al-Wasat in which he blamed world and regional powers for what he called the "failures" of the 2011 uprisings collectively known as the "Arab Spring," criticized the lack of compromise in the region's conflicts, and called for closer relationships between predominantly Sunni and Shiite countries in the region.
According to the Bahrain Press Association, al-Jaziri's family said he was blindfolded for an unspecified number of days after his arrest. The family said he was banned from sitting or sleeping for three days during questioning and before he signed a confession, unaware of its content.
On June 28, 2016, the public prosecutor announced the commencement of a trial of 18 suspects, including al-Jaziri and another journalist, Ali Mearaj. The defendants are accused of belonging to an Iranian and Hezbollah-backed terror cell formed by the banned al-Wafaa party.
As of late 2016, Al-Jaziri was held in Dry Dock jail pending the outcome of his trial.
