Who's Next?

Bloggers in the Arab world started to panic after Ali Abdulemam, 27 years old, the owner & moderator of one of the most popular discussion message board site in Bahrain, Bahrainonline.org was arrested.

Related News about Ali Abdulemam.

My felow Blogger muscati has shown his fears in his post 'Are they going to come after the bloggers next? '

Bahrain Online webmaster remanded on charges of inciting hatred

Here is the latest news about the case:

Vol XXVII NO. 347 Wednesday 2 March 2005

Webmasters' release sought
By ROBERT SMITH


PROTESTS are mounting over the arrest of three Bahraini webmasters over comments that appeared on the Internet.

Friends and relatives of Ali Abdulemam, Hussain Yousif and Mohammed Al Mousawi gathered outside the Public Prosecution building, in Manama, yesterday to call for their release.

Mr Abdulemam was arrested on Sunday, while the other two were arrested on Monday.

Reporters Sans Frontières, an international organisation dedicated to defending Press freedom, has added its voice to the protests.

"Imprisoning someone for their journalistic work or posting an article on the Internet cannot be acceptable in any circumstances," said the organisation in a letter to Information Minister Mohammad Abdul Ghaffar.

"This incident demonstrates that the 2002 Press Law is in urgent need of reform."

The three were arrested because of comments that appeared on their website Bahrainonline.com, which is critical of the government.

They are now facing charges that include spreading hatred of the regime.

The Egypt-based Arabic Network for Human Rights Information has also condemned the arrests, as did Bahrain's Al Wefaq National Islamic Society.

Human rights activists are now planning a series of demonstrations to call for their release. These include daily vigils outside the Public Prosecution from around 4pm.

Activists also expressed concern that more arrests may follow - either of people working on the same website or different ones.

Meanwhile, the arrests have sparked calls for clearer publishing laws in Bahrain.

Bahrain Internet Society (BIS) chairman Ahmed Al Hujairy said there was nothing in the current legislation to distinguish between print media and the Internet.

He is concerned that there are too many grey areas - especially when Press laws are applied to the web. "The laws we have in Bahrain relate to journalism," he said.

"There is nothing that refers to the Internet. They just refer to the media.

"There is a gap. What they did was call on the existing laws of Bahrain and treated what was written as though it was put down on paper.

"There is a gap that does not distinguish paper from the Internet. Both are published media."