p2pnet - rss feed: Bahrain - ‘Not again!’
p2p news / p2pnet: "Forty websites were allegedly shut down this week by the Information Ministry without warning or prior notice, Bahraini webmasters claimed yesterday," says the Gulf Daily News. They include a number of popular Bahraini websites regularly visited by surfers for political developments in the kingdom.
"They include www.montadayat.org, which was closed permanently on Monday after being closed on Friday and reopened 24 hours later."
Back in May Bahrain’s first blogger, Mahmood Al-Yousif, told the world local web site owners were being compelled to register their names, addresses and telephone numbers with the Information Ministry, or face prosecution if they defy the new administrative order.
Now, "Can anyone guess what Bahrain’s press freedom index is going to be for 2006?" - he asks on his blog.
"No?" >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
Not again!
By Mahmood Al-Yousif - Mahmood’s Den
… let’s look at the trend, so we can realistically predict the future:
2002 = 67
2003 = 117
2004 = 167
2005 = 123
"Let’s also consider other factors that might assist us in this prediction; emoodz broke the story on Wednesday that a number of websites appeared to be blocked, this was later confirmed by Batelco, the only ISP on the island and referred us to the Ministry of Information. Of course, no one had any information at the Ministry of Information!
"This morning, the GDN had an article that the block was far more widespread than we thought, the GDN reports FORTY sites blocked without even bothering to tell the webmasters why they were blocked in the first place. And typical of a Ministry of Information official, he blatantly told the reporter that he could only look into this issue when he "gets back to work on Saturday!" What cheek. I thought that people in that kind of powerful position at one of the (supposedly) most important ministries would immediately jump on the situation and get it fixed there and then, but no. The world has to stop until his excellency goes back to work after the weekend, clears his in-tray and then maybe, just maybe look into this "annoyance." Let’s forget the fact that Bahrain’s reputation internationally will have once again been dragged in the mud.. let’s not screw up our weekend, which is much more important.
"So what are the contents of some of these sites? They’re run of the mill village sites discussing their affairs and yes some do go into political debates which sometimes turn unsavory, but so what? Democracy isn’t peachy nor is it clean, and people have the right to say what they feel, it’s better than lobbing rocks at police cars isn’t it?
"And why resort once again to such draconian methods as blocking sites? I suspect that the next step is to drag those 40 webmasters in front of the public prosecutor and throw them in prison for a few days so that they would behave themselves, right?
"I’m just fed up of this rubbish, this continuous attempt at shutting people up, this continuous incitement to violence by the very government organ that is supposed to be used to spread the good democratic concepts and "inform" people of their rights and duties in a democratic society.
"I suggest that we find out who the actual person who authorised this latest fiasco and publish his name in bold letters as the real enemy of the people. He is not alone in this for sure, but he certainly will have contributed to the reduction of our rank once again to something beyond 170 for the next report."
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NOTE – Reporters Without Borders says of Bahrain:
Except for pornographic sites, Bahrain does not censor the Internet much. But it has unfortunately begun to regulate it in ways that endanger freedom of expression. The government said in April 2004 that all online publications, including forums and blogs, must be officially registered. Loud protests led to suspension of the measure but it is still on the books. Three editors of a forum were held for nearly two weeks in March 2005 for allowing defamation’ of the king to be posted.
Also read:-
Gulf Daily News - Websites ’shut without notice’
told the world - Bahrain web registration storm, May 2, 2005
November 25th, 2005 at 11:29 pm
It should be noted that while Bahrain is in the news today, it isn’t the only country attempting to regulate the net or what is said by its citizens. It seems that many countries are having second thoughts about what is deemed proper topics for internet conversations and themes.
You have those such as China, that believe that speak no evil equals no evil. In otherwords if you have a beef with the way the country is run, keep it to yourself or suffer the consequences. Indirectly, one thinks that they believe world opinion will be altered to the viewpoint they wish to present by this method and nothing could be further from reality. One immeaditely jumps to the conclusion that the government is repressive and the purpose of these er, cleanings and closings is nothing but an attempt to control the populace and remove any sort of collaboration that just might lead to unrest in a controled population. These sort of countries have a reason to fear the unrest. Repressive governments don’t lead to long lived social structures. It reaches a point that only fear of reprisal keeps the population in check. At some point the repressive governments exceed what even fear can keep in check.
November 27th, 2005 at 1:35 am
Another sad day when the Anglo-Saxons go on their TORTURE rampages….
>>>>>>>>> http://news.independent.co.uk/uk/politics/article329425.ece
Britain gives approval to torture, claims Amnesty
By Ben Russell and Colin Brown
Published: 26 November 2005
Tony Blair has been accused of undermining decades of British campaigning for international human rights by using the war on terror to give a “green light” to torture. Amnesty International is to launch an unprecedented global campaign tomorrow against the British Government after ministers admitted they would use information gained by torture to prevent attacks on the United Kingdom.
Mike Gapes, the Labour MP and chairman of the Commons Foreign Affairs Committee, hit out at the Government after Ian Pearson, the Foreign Office minister responsible for human rights, said evidence obtained under torture could not be ignored if it might prevent an attack.
He said: “The fact the Government now seems prepared to use evidence obtained under torture sends a worrying signal and may mean that while we say we condemn the use of torture, other countries might feel they have a green light to use torture to get evidence on terrorism.”
Amnesty is to turn the tactics it used against torture by dictatorships in the Seventies and Eighties on the Government as it puts the campaign against British anti-terror laws at the forefront of the organisation’s global fight for human rights. It will call on its two million members worldwide to join a letter-writing campaign targeting Mr Blair and build international pressure to oppose plans to deport suspects to countries that use torture.
Kate Allen, the director of Amnesty UK, said Britain’s actions posed one of the greatest threats to human rights in the West. She condemned Britain for attempting to secure memorandums of understanding with other states to allow the deportation of terror suspects
The Government has signed memorandums with Jordan and Libya and is negotiating deals with Algeria and other countries to attempt to ensure that detainees are not mistreated if they are returned.
But campaigners insist the deals are “not worth the paper they are written on” and undermine the global ban on torture. Meanwhile the House of Lords is also yet to rule on whether the UK can use evidence against terror suspects that may have been obtained under torture abroad.
Amnesty’s campaign, to be launched with a rally outside Downing Street, has huge symbolic resonance for Labour. Ms Allen said: “We are incredibly angry about the way in which the UK Government is moving from being a defender of human rights to being a defender of torturers.
“We want to open people’s eyes to what is being done in their name. Whilst we used to be sending diplomats around the world stopping torture we are flying them around the world to sign agreements with countries that use torture.
“This is deeply shocking. What is happening in the UK is of such magnitude that is has created anger in Amnesty as a worldwide movement. The UK has been at the forefront of establishing international law and helping human rights. It is in danger of simply throwing that away and I don’t think backbenchers and the public realise that.”
Mr Pearson had suggested on Thursday during a meeting of the Commons Foreign Affairs Committee that the Government might use evidence obtained under torture. He said: “When we get to the situation where there is evidence that might prevent a future atrocity and we have suspicions that evidence might be obtained from torture, well I think we have to use that evidence. I don’t think you can completely ignore what might turn out to be vital evidence that will save the lives of UK citizens.”
A day earlier, Mr Blair had told MPs: “We do not agree with the use of torture.” Pressed over whether that was an absolute rule, Mr Blair added: “I mean absolute in this sense, that you say ‘Look, it is simply the civil liberties of the suspect, or simply the liberties of freedom from terrorism’. You have to balance those two things.”
He went on: “Of course there are absolute rules that we have about torture, or about the death penalty for example … I do not accept that the anti-terrorist measures that we have been introducing transgress that.”