Bahrain Freedom Index
In March 2012, Mahdi AlBasri, Mahmood Taresh, Ammar AlAli, Hasan Abdali and Mohammed Abdali were arrested at dawn for messages they had uploaded to twitter; they were held on charges for criticizing the King. On 15 May 2013, the court sentenced five of the bloggers to 1 year imprisonment.
at the Oslo Freedom Forum, Ali said he was “forced into hiding because of the brutal regime we have in Bahrain”. The 35-year-old IT specialist and founder of prominent Bahrain Online blog in 1998 did not give details of his life after he decided to go underground, in March 2011, to protect those who helped him in the last two years.
According to her witness statement, a few weeks after her arrest Shehabi received a series of emails, the first purportedly from Kahil Marzou who was the deputy head of Bahrain’s main opposition party, including one containing a virus. Other emails that claimed to be from an Al Jazeera journalist were also infected. Research found that the emails contained a product called FinSpy, distributed by a British company, Gamma International.
After more than two years in hiding, Ali Abdulemam, the globally renowned blogger and free-speech advocate, has been freed from the Kingdom of Bahrain. Abdulemam is now safely in Europe, after a dramatic escape in a secret compartment of a car, and will make his first public appearance in more than two years on Wednesday at the Oslo Freedom Forum (OFF).
“The time came for me to… help the uprising and to help people in Bahrain publicly instead of… hiding all this time,” Abdulemam told Al Jazeera. “I will not be able to work and to support the uprising in Bahrain if I’m inside the jail.”
The six were detained over the past couple of days and the prosecutor’s statement Wednesday said they will be charged with misusing Twitter and insulting King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa.
The arrests come two days after a court acquitted rights activist Yousef al-Muhafedha of spreading false news on Twitter. He is one of dozens to face charges for posting comments on social media.
1.Mr. Ali Faisal Al-Shufa (17 years old): arrested on 12 March at dawn, and the Public Prosecution ordered that he be taken to custody for 7 days, pending trial.
2.Mr. Hassan Abdali Isa (33 years old): arrested on 12 March at dawn, and the Public Prosecution ordered that he be taken to custody for 7 days, pending trial.
3.Mr. Mohsen Abdali Isa (26 years old): arrested on 12 March at dawn, and the Public Prosecution ordered that he be taken to custody for 7 days, pending trial.
4.Mr. Ammar Makki Mohammed Al-Aali (36 years old): arrested on 12 March at dawn, and the Public Prosecution ordered that he be taken to custody for 7 days, pending trial.
5.Mr. Mahmood Abdul-Majeed Abdulla Al-Jamri (34 years old): arrested on 12 March at dawn, and the Public Prosecution ordered that he be taken to custody for 7 days, pending trial.
6.Mr. Mahdi Ebrahim Al-Basri (25 years old): arrested on 11 March at dawn. His relatives confirmed to the Bahrain Youth Society for Human Rights (BYSHR)that the contents of the house were destroyed and they were verbally abused. Mahdi also faced mistreatment in the Criminal Investigations. Mahdi is a practicing lawyer.
While the speed of Bahrain’s Internet connections is among the best in the Gulf, the level of Internet filtering and surveillance is one of the highest in the world. The royal family is represented in all areas of Internet management and has sophisticated tools at its disposal for spying on its subjects. Reporters Without Borders added Bahrain to its list of “Internet Enemies” in 2012. The situation for freedom of information has hardly improved since then amid the continuing street protests that began in February 2011 and were inspired by the uprisings in Tunisia and Egypt.
Detained Lawyer @MahdiAlbasri1 has been charged with tweeting degrading tweets on account @karranah14.
investigators allege account @karranah14 was accessed via home internet connection of @MahdiAlbasri1 they monitred his internet connection.
@MahdiAlbasri1 was arrested after dawn house raid at early hours of 11 Mar 2013. sent to public prosecution on 12 March 2013.
The General Director of Anti-Corruption and Economic and Electronic Security announced on Tuesday that a group of individuals were monitored for using social media for defamation of the King. Investigation identified six of them, in which they were referred to the public prosecution.
Shehabi was careful, making sure no-one was watching her, and switched her mobile off during the interview. But the police paid her a visit all the same shortly afterwards. The officers let her go, but then came the first e-mail. Subject: “Torture report on Nabeel Rajab”. Attachments: purported photographs of the tortured Rajab. He’s a friend of Shehabi’s and fellow dissident. Shehabi tried to open the file, but it didn’t work. Luckily for her, since there was a Trojan horse from Gamma concealed in the attachment. The Bahraini regime had her in their crosshairs, and Martin Münch’s software helped them get at her.
“No matter how I communicate, they know,” Mr. Muhafdha said in an interview. “The regime has sophisticated electronic surveillance equipment allowing it to spy on everything we do by social media, e-mail and phone.”
The planned Authority will be mandated to propose information and communication policies and follow up their implementation.
It will also draw up a national strategy for information and communication, and be in charge of defining rules and regulations to promote the media and communications profession.
The panel will work towards achieving vital national interests, preserving social unity and protecting constitutionally-guaranteed freedom of opinion and expression in mass media. It will receive complaints relating to media content and attempt reconciliation between all parties.
Bahrain government denied allegations that the Kingdom had purchased spy software from a British
technology firm.
A recent report in The Guardian, dated February 2, stated that human rights group was set to file
a complaint alleging that Gamma International UK breached Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) guidelines.
The report stated Gamma was facing questions about how its specialist surveillance software that allows users to spy on people’s email ended up in Bahrain.
Live broadcast on UStream blocked in Bahrain
#Bahrain’s regime found thousands of online defenders which hurled abuse at anyone who dared tweet about the country
On 6th of Feburary 2013 we have seen one of the highest twitter levels near Budaiya High way we have ever seen. 50% of the tweets from this area use the word حوار dialogue. Lots of political discussion going on.
The copy of FinSpy sent to Bahraini Activists identifies itself as FinSpy 4.01, and bears a March 2012 date. However, Bahrain Watch has obtained a sample of a different version of FinSpy used in Bahrain, which predates the campaign against Bahraini Activists. The other version of the spyware identifies itself as FinSpy 4.00, and has an older date. Both the FinSpy 4.01 and FinSpy 4.00 samples communicate with the same server in Bahrain. The use of two different FinSpy versions calls into question Gamma’s claim that Bahrain is using a stolen copy of FinSpy, and instead suggests that Bahrain is receiving updated spyware from Gamma.
