In October, the High Criminal Court prohibited the "publication of all types of news, analyses, or information pertaining to the case of Salah al-Bandar," the Bahrain News Agency reported. Al-Bandar, an adviser to the Cabinet Affairs Ministry, authored a report for the Gulf Centre for Democratic Development alleging that certain government officials intended to deprive many Shiites of their voting rights. Police deported al-Bandar, a British citizen, to the United Kingdom. The government said he would be tried in absentia for sedition, The Associated Press reported. Senior editors of Bahrain's Arabic-language newspapers urged the country's highest court on October 15 to review the government's ban on reporting allegations of election fraud, according to AP.

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