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World Report - Bahrain

• Area: 712 sq. km.
• Population: 750,000
• Language: Arabic
• Head of state: King Hamad bin Issa Al-Khalifa (since 2002)

The opening up of the political landscape, driven since 2002 by King Hamad bin Issa al-Khalifa, was coupled with a similar expansion in the press field.

Even though a new publications' law – law-decree number 47 – imposed by the government in 2002, did not take into account most of the recommendations from within the profession, which was consulted on the reforms, it gave new vigour to the written press. Streamlining of the process of launching new publications provided a significant boost to the number of daily newspapers in circulation. Moreover, articles in the law that had allowed journalists to be imprisoned were abolished.

However, journalists can still be tried under criminal law and they generally submit themselves to regular and rigorous self-censorship. In addition, law-decree 47 empowers the culture and information ministry to order the closure of any publication or website making an "attack on the regime, the official state religion, morals or different confessions leading to a breach of the peace" without any judicial ruling. Editors of newspapers, as a result, find themselves under relentless political pressure.

Since it was approved in 2002, many attempts have been made to reform the publications law, but the government only put forward its own amendments to the National Assembly in June 2008 and they still have not been debated.

While the privately owned written press has increasingly flourished, the state has kept a monopoly on the broadcast sector, but almost 99% of the population owns a satellite dish.

Against this background, the Internet gives the kingdom's journalists a highly valued space for freedom of expression. But this space is now being brought much more under official surveillance and control. The Bahrain telecommunications company, in which the state is one of the main shareholders – officially – censors pages that incite violence, "national discord", or of a "pornographic nature". In practice, many websites run by national or international non-government organisations are inaccessible. The information ministry regularly updates the list of websites to which access is banned within the country. The new culture and information minister, Shaikha May bint Ibrahim al-Khalifa, in January 2009 sent a memo to Internet access providers instructing them to censor websites that appeared on the government blacklist. Since then, some websites that allow users to get round online censorship have also become inaccessible. This means that Internet users cannot go onto pages of some groups on the social networking site Facebook, seen as critical of the government, along with 66 other websites dealing with subjects relating to human rights or politics.

Topics: Freedom of information, Freedom of expression,