Alwaght- Human rights activists have expressed concerned over Bahraini regime’s restrictions on freedom of expression on the internet and its targeting of social media users critical of the monarchy.
In a statement on Sunday, the Bahrain Center for Human Rights (BCHR) added that there is also a heightened practice of blocking access to websites which post content deemed as opposed to the Western-backed Al Khalifa ruling clan.
The statement noted that on 1 July 2016, the Director-General of Ministry of Interior (MOI)’s Anti-corruption, Economic and Electronic Security announced “the arrest of a number of people for misusing social media.” According to the statement, those individuals had shared some posts on social media, allegedly inciting people to commit violations, a crime punishable under the Bahraini law.
Two people, social media user Taiba Ismaeel and artist Khalil Al-Madhoon, were among those arrested and charged with the misuse of the Internet for the purpose of inciting against the law.
BCHR says it is alarmed at not only the growing practice of curtailing dissent and the rights to freedom of speech and of expression on Internet platforms, but also at the pervasive tactic to cut access to information and any critical commentary of the government by blocking media website platforms, interrupting and throttling access to the Internet, and attempting to prevent the exposure of any form of information that does not align with government rhetoric.
Since the escalation of the crackdown in June 2016, the authorities blocked the websites of the largest political society in the country, Al-Wefaq Islamic Political Society - following its closure. Similarly, the authorities blocked the website of the Islamic Enlightenment (Al-Tawyea) Society.
BCHR has called for the immediate and unconditional release of all internet users arrested and imprisoned for merely exercising their rights to freedom of speech and expression.
Since mid-February 2011, multitudes of protesters opposed to the brutal 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 clan 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.
