Alwaght- An American journalist and three members of her camera crew were detained in Bahrain on Sunday (14 February) as they were covering the fifth anniversary of Bahraini peoples' pro-democratic Revolution.
Reporters Without Borders, in a statement published on Monday, called on the Bahraini regime to release the four American citizens "rapidly and without harm."
The group described Anna Day and her three colleagues as experienced journalists, who had most recently worked on virtual reality documentaries in Egypt and Gaza. She has also been a contributor to the Huffington Post and the Daily Beast.
According to Bahrain-based Bahrain Mirror, one of the journalists was apprehended in the island of Sitra, south of the Bahraini capital, Manama, where Al Khalifa's security forces violently attacked demonstrators.
Three others were arrested at a checkpoint at one of Sitra's exists, Bahraini website reported, adding all four of the journalists were taken to Al-Nabih Saleh police station.
Bahraini police said earlier they had detained four foreign nationals. Bahrain's interior ministry said in a statement the four were "suspected of offences including entering Bahrain illegally having submitted false information to border staff, and participating in an unlawful gathering."
The U.S. State Department said it was aware of reports that U.S. citizens had been arrested but declined further comment.
Since 14th February 2011, multitudes of protesters opposed to the Saudi-Backed Bahraini regime have held numerous peaceful rallies in the streets of the island kingdom, demanding their inalienable human rights. The demonstrators gradually demanded the al-Khalifa family to relinquish power.
In response, the regime has dealt with peaceful protesters with a heavy-handed crackdown, killing scores of people, injuring and arresting many more. The regime is also abusing the law by withdrawing citizenship of opposition activists.
