24-25 May 2017
June 2016.
Bahrain journalist found
guilty of reporting
without license
A Bahrain court fined a
prominent journalist 1,000
dinars ($2,650) on Thursday
for reporting in the
kingdom without official
permission, her lawyer said,
after a trial seen by rights
groups as an example of
diminishing press freedom.
Nazeeha Saeed, an
award-winning Bahrain
correspondent for France
24 and the Arabic-language
Monte Carlo Doualiya radio,
was accused of working as a
journalist without a permit,
after authorities did not
renew her accreditation in
Bahrain says five
died during raid on
Shiite Muslim leaders
hometown
Bahrain is investigating the
death of five people during
a raid on the home village
of the spiritual leader of its
Shiite Muslim community,
the interior ministry said on
Thursday.
A ministry statement said
the five were among a group
that attacked security forces
raiding what it said were
terrorist organizations on
Tuesday in Diraz, the village
of Ayatollah Isa Qassim,
and that nearly 300 people
were arrested.
The raid, days after President
Her lawyer Hameed al-
Mulla said Saeed, who had
worked as an accredited
correspondent for 12 years,
would appeal against the
verdict of the lower criminal
court. Mulla has argued
that Saeed had applied for
the annual renewal of her
permit before its expiry.
French public radio
broadcaster France Mdias
Monde (FMM) and Paris-
based Reporters Without
Borders (RSF) had urged
the Gulf Arab countrys
authorities to abandon their
prosecution of Saeed and
allow her to continue her
work as a reporter.
read more
Donald Trump said U.S.
ties with the Sunni-ruled
kingdom -- long strained
over its human rights
record -- would improve,
stoked tensions in the Gulf
kingdom where the U.S.
Fifth Fleet is based.
In 2011, Bahrain crushed
an uprising by the majority
Shiite community. The
government believes
the opposition seeks to
overthrow it by force and
says Iran has aided in
deadly militant attacks on
security forces.
read more
demonstration in Diraz,
Bahrain warns protesters
after deadly crackdown
Bahrain on Wednesday
warned people against
holding protests a day
after police shot dead five
demonstrators in the home
village of the spiritual
leader of the kingdoms
Shiite majority.
Security forces would
challenge, in accordance
with the law, any gathering
or incitement to protest,
the interior ministry said in
a statement.
Dozens were also
wounded after police on
Tuesday opened fire on a
Bahrain Court Sentences
17 Men on Terrorism
Charges
A Bahrain court sentenced
17 men to jail terms ranging
from several years to life
imprisonment on charges
of forming a terrorist cell,
the public prosecutor said
on Thursday, days after
a police raid killed five
demonstrators.
Both the court ruling and
Tuesdays police operation
targeting a village outside
the capital Manama signal
a strong line by the Sunni
Muslim-ruled kingdom
against the mostly Shiite
opposition amid increased
sectarian tensions.
the scene of a long-running
sit-in outside the home of
cleric Isa Qassim.
The ministry identified four
of the five protesters killed
in Wednesdays statement,
and said 31 members of
the security forces were
wounded.
Police arrested 286 wanted
persons, including at least
11 prison escapees, the
ministry said.
It said the sit-in had become
a refuge for wanted persons
and fugitives.
read more
The opposition says it
is seeking more rights
and better representation
for Bahrains majority
Shiite population, but the
authorities accuse it of
seeking to overthrow the
government by force with
the help of the kingdoms
arch-foe Iran.
The 17 men (were) accused
of the felony of establishing
a terrorist group, joining
that group, attempted
murder of a public official
and training on the use of
weapons and explosives,
the prosecutor said in a
statement.
read more