Bahrain Mirror: The Bahrain Center for Human Rights confirmed that "freedom of opinion and expression is still restricted in Bahrain against those who practice journalistic work and producers of media content on the Internet since 2011 until the present day."

The center stressed on the "World Press Freedom Day" that "journalists suffer from strict laws that make their profession fraught with dangers. This restriction recently affected many activists on social media, including lawyer Ibrahim Al-Mannai, Qassem Al-Hujairi, Ali Hassan and Ibrahim Khalil."

The World Press Freedom Day comes to Bahrainis this year as the Kingdom of Bahrain did not accept all the recommendations related to freedom of opinion and expression and freedom of the press, during its universal periodic review at the 52nd session of the Human Rights Council, where the 245 recommendations for Bahrain included approximately 26 recommendations related to freedom of opinion and the press. Bahrain accepted only 15 of them, which raises concerns about the dangers surrounding journalistic work."

The Bahrain Center for Human Rights recalled that "the Constitution of the Kingdom of Bahrain guarantees the enjoyment of freedom of opinion and the right to expression in Article No. (22), which stipulates that freedom of conscience is absolute." It also recalled that the Kingdom of Bahrain has ratified the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, Article 19 of which provides for the right to freedom of expression.

Nedal Al-Salman, Director of Bahrain Center for Human Rights, called on the authorities in Bahrain to stop persecuting journalists and civil society activists by allowing citizens to express their opinions freely.

Bahrain Center for Human Rights called on the authorities in Bahrain to "Respect and protect all rights of journalists and activists, immediately release all journalists, photographers, and activists detained for carrying out their work or exercising their right to freedom of opinion and expression, open media and press freedoms in the country to the other opposition opinion and invite the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the Promotion and Protection of the Right to Freedom of Opinion and Expression to schedule an urgent visit to Manama."

Arabic Version