Internet Enemies
“The 12 ‘Enemies of the Internet’ - Burma, China, Cuba, Egypt, Iran, North Korea, Saudi Arabia, Syria, Tunisia, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan and Vietnam - have all transformed their Internet into an Intranet in order to prevent their population from accessing ‘undesirable’ online information,” Reporters Without Borders said.

Letters on Bahrain

21 September 2009

Dr. Ebrahim Ahmed Aljanahi
President, University of Bahrain
Fax: +973 1744 9900

Dear Dr. Aljanahi:

Alert
Special forces deployed to prevent public figures from expressing views on Independence Day

(BCHR/IFEX) - The Bahraini authorities deployed armed special forces to prevent well known public figures from expressing their views in a public gathering to celebrate the 38th anniversary of Bahrain's Independence Day, on 14 August 2009.

JUNE 20, 2009.
By YAROSLAV TROFIMOV
MADINAT HAMAD, Bahrain -- On a recent evening, Issa al Jibb climbed the roof of his home and started hurling Molotov cocktails into the adjoining property of the Rawi clan. By the time Bahraini police shot him down with a rubber bullet, Mr. Jibb had managed to burn three cars and part of the building, and inflicted serious burns on two Rawi teenagers.

Friday 19th June 2009,

THE OBSERVATORY for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders :BAHRAIN

Political context

BAHRAIN (Tier 2 Watch List)
Bahrain is a destination country for men and women
trafficked for the purposes of forced labor and commercial
sexual exploitation. Men and women from India,
Pakistan, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Indonesia,
Thailand, the Philippines, Ethiopia, and Eritrea migrate
voluntarily to Bahrain to work as formal sector laborers
or domestic workers. Some, however, face conditions
of involuntary servitude after arriving in Bahrain, such
as unlawful withholding of passports, restrictions on

The authorities failed adequately to investigate allegations of torture and other ill-treatment of detainees. Government critics were briefly detained and several websites were closed down. One person was executed. The government indicated it would decriminalize certain publishing offences, reduce legal discrimination against women and introduce other reforms.

Background

By REBECCA SANTANA – 23 hours ago

MANAMA, Bahrain (AP) — It seemed like a moment of reconciliation in this Gulf island nation's bitter sectarian divide, when Sunni Muslim rulers suddenly released a group of jailed Shiite activists. Shiites, who days before had been burning tires in protests, cheered in the streets.

Bahrain | 14.05.2009
Reporters Without Borders is concerned about freedom of expression in Bahrain. In the past couple of months, two journalists have been charged because of what they wrote and the information ministry has stepped up Internet filtering.