Witch hunt continues unabated

7 more people have been detained by the Public Prosecutor under the guise of the recently announced “protecting our values” as determined by the Prime Minister. This time, 3 of those investigated are writers for Alwefaq’s political party’s publication, the remainder are connected apparently with the already banned sites.

Raise your hands if you think this is a clear abuse of power and yet another attempt at silencing criticism cloaked in “protecting our values” thingy.

Comments

  1. Ali

    Two quotes from an old British unelected PM who was appointed by his King to save his country in times of trouble.

    “Everyone is in favor of free speech. Hardly a day passes without its being extolled, but some people’s idea of it is that they are free to say what they like, but if anyone else says anything back, that is an outrage.”

    “You see these dictators on their pedestals, surrounded by the bayonets of their soldiers and the truncheons of their police. Yet in their hearts there is unspoken – unspeakable! – fear. They are afraid of words and thoughts! Words spoken abroad, thoughts stirring at home, all the more powerful because they are forbidden. These terrify them. A little mouse – a little tiny mouse! -of thought appears in the room, and even the mightiest potentates are thrown into panic.”

    So we mustn’t panic, we are not Zimbabwe, we do not have a dictator and our leaders have enough lessons from history to know what not to do.

  2. Eyad

    what can I say, we are the only country in the world that is moving in light speed but back wards, there is nothing good left, everything that any one thought would change never changed, and nothing will change.

    I only wish for the worst to happen, its about time.

  3. Joker

    Raise your hand if you still believe there is no government scheme to separate the divide between the haves and the have not’s.

  4. Tariq

    I raise my hand, both as a matter of fact. Under the guise of protecting our so called ‘special mores’ around the Gulf, such heinous infringements of human rights are gradually becoming very common and an almost daily occurrence in different parts of the region. And the tragedy of it all as there is no due course of law to readress the issue and seek justice, unless it is from external and international organizations.

  5. Sam

    Time to get the suitcases out?

    I really do sympathize with you guys. The current climate and recent govt actions will no doubt have instilled fear and anxiety amongst Bahraini based bloggers and webmasters – but I guess that’s the govt’s crude objectives. Silencing and suppressing free speech by instilling fear.

    Quite disgusting.

  6. Joker

    As soon as the circular was issued and the committee was set up, something in the wording didn’t smell right. Something about ill speaking of the CP and posting “un-bahraini” material. Bahraini’s got used to interpriting to these mixed signals and understood that this task force was another secret police wolf dressed up as a lamb.

    Do you guys think they’ll go as far as allowing the other websites, Bahrain Forum etc, to go back to business as usual?

  7. Sam

    there is no due course of law to readress the issue

    Spot on. Constitutionally Bahrain’s judiciary is independent of government. It’s quite hard to see how that works when everyone from the Minister of Justice down to courtroom judges are hand selected, and hand picked by the government itself! The very entity it’s supposedly independent of!

  8. chanad

    Constitutionally Bahrain’s judiciary is independent of government. It’s quite hard to see how that works when everyone from the Minister of Justice down to courtroom judges are hand selected, and hand picked by the government itself!

    Add to that that a significantly large proportion of the judges bear the same last name…

  9. Pingback: Global Voices Online » Bahrain: Silencing Opposition

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