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Bahrain rejects claim it is an 'enemy of the Internet'

By REUTERS

MARCH 14, 2012 12:45

DUBAI - Bahrain rejected on Wednesday a new report by an international media watchdog describing the Gulf Arab state as an "enemy of the Internet" after it crushed a pro-democracy uprising last year.

"Bahrain offers a perfect example of successful crackdowns, with an information blackout achieved through an impressive arsenal of repressive measures," the Paris-based Reporters Without Borders (RSF) said in a report published this week.

The report cited exclusion of the foreign media, harassment of human rights defenders, arrests of bloggers and Internet activists, prosecutions and defamation campaigns against free expression activists, and disruption of communications after mass protests first erupted in February 2011.

It said Bahrain, where the Sunni Al Khalifa family rules a majority Shi'ite population, slowed down the Internet and increased filtering during the uprising, which was put down by force after one month in March 2011.

Bahrain, a US ally that hosts Washington's Fifth Fleet, fell in RSF's press freedom index to number 173, seven places from the worst offender, Eritrea, the watchdog said.

In its response, the Bahrain government said it was in the process of improving media standards, according to the recommendations of a commission of international legal experts which criticized media policy in a hard-hitting report in November.

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