Annual Prison Census 2010 - Bahrain
| Publisher | Committee to Protect Journalists |
| Publication Date | 8 December 2010 |
| Cite as | Committee to Protect Journalists, Annual Prison Census 2010 - Bahrain, 8 December 2010, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/4d4977eb28.html [accessed 6 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. |
Journalists in prison as of December 1, 2010
Bahrain: 2
Abduljalil Alsingace, freelance
Imprisoned: August 13, 2010
Alsingace, a journalistic blogger and human rights activist, was arrested as part of a widespread government crackdown on political opponents, human rights defenders, and critical journalists ahead of October parliamentary elections.
The government sought to shield its actions from public scrutiny. On August 27, the public prosecutor issued a gag order barring journalists from reporting on the crackdown. Hundreds of people, mostly from the country's Shiite majority, were arrested in the crackdown. Most were released, but the government put 23 prominent defendants on trial in October on multiple antistate charges.
Security agents detained Alsingace at Bahrain International Airport as he returned from London, where he had spoken about human rights violations in the kingdom, according to his lawyer, Mohamed Ahmed. Alsingace monitored human rights for the Shiite-dominated opposition Haq Movement for Civil Liberties and Democracy. Alsingace also wrote critically of the Bahraini government in articles published on his blog, Al-Faseela. Authorities briefly blocked local access to his blog in 2009.
Alsingace and other detainees said through their lawyers that they had been tortured in custody. In response to local and international concerns, Foreign Minister Sheikh Khaled bin al-Khalifa said his government would investigate the allegations, the Bahrain News Agency reported. No evident investigation had begun by late year.
Ali Abdel Imam, BahrainOnline
Imprisoned: September 5, 2010
Abdel Imam, a leading online journalist and the founder of the BahrainOnline news website, was arrested as part of broad government crackdown on political opponents, human rights defenders, and critical journalists ahead of October parliamentary elections.
The government sought to shield its actions from public scrutiny. On August 27, the public prosecutor issued a gag order barring journalists from reporting on the crackdown. Hundreds of people, mostly from the country's Shiite majority, were arrested in the crackdown. Most were released, but the government put 23 prominent defendants on trial in October on multiple antistate charges.
BahrainOnline, which featured political news and commentary, had been blocked domestically since 2002 but was still widely read through proxy servers. The government shut its operations completely on the day Abdel Imam was arrested.
