Journalists, bloggers, writers and intellectuals are being urged to show up in support of Bahraini blogger Mahmood Al Yousif, as a libel case brought against him by Municipalities and Agriculture Minister Mansoor Bin Rajab gets underway today. The Bahraini Journalists Association (BJA) says it is important for journalists to be present, to show solidarity with [...]
Drivers will no longer have to involve police for minor non-injury accidents, if a new scheme gets the go-ahead. Police want drivers to deal directly with their insurance companies in the event of minor accidents. This would free police to deal with law enforcement, a traffic chief said yesterday. Eighty per cent of traffic police [...]
About 30 journalists were summoned by the public prosecution this year following complaints by individuals who felt slighted by news reports, Bahrain Journalists Association board member Lamees Dhaif has said. “They were all cases involving people, and not institutions, but all journalists were cleared of any wrongdoing,” Lamees told Gulf News. She added that the [...]
A new anti terror law that is awaiting final ratification by the king of Bahrain, King Sheikh Hamad bin Isa al-Khalifah, could place restrictions on the activities of human rights defenders in Bahrain, specifically their defense of the rights of freedom of expression and association. The parliament of Bahrain has already approved the “protecting society [...]
Batelco has been ordered to revise terms and prices under which other Internet Service Providers (ISPs) may use its network. THE Telecommunications Regulatory Authority (TRA) yesterday ordered Batelco to revise the terms and prices of its Reference Interconnection Offer (RIO), which could pave the way for other ISPs to enter the market. The RIO is [...]
A probe into alleged human trafficking may be launched in relation to last week’s Gudaibiya labour camp blaze, in which 16 workers were killed. Indian Ambassador Balkrishna Shetty has asked the Bahrain Foreign Ministry to investigate what he alleges were violations of international laws against human trafficking. He said he met with Foreign Ministry Assistant [...]
The High Civil Court has suspended a component of an “emergency order” issued by the Telecommunication Regulatory Authority (TRA), requiring Batelco to state that it had misled the public. Batelco initiated legal action against the TRA following an order which insisted that Batelco publish a Press release stating that it had “misled the public” by [...]
Nearly 200 survivors of the Gudaibiya labour camp blaze were bussed to a makeshift camp without airconditioning or running water in the early hours of yesterday. They arrived at 1am in the morning and were expected to bed down in a building under construction, with just four rooms cleared to accommodate 197 of them, workers [...]
Government officials responsible for the safety of migrant workers’ accommodation have failed to fulfil their responsibilities and should be forced to resign, a leading Bahrain businesswoman and champion of migrant workers’ rights said yesterday. “Private companies, at the end of the day, want to make profit – so they cram 200 people into one house,” [...]
King Hamad bin Issa al-Khalifa ratified a controversial law on public assembly that restricts the right to meet and lays down prison terms for unauthorised protests, the official news agency BNA said. The new law was adopted on July 11 by parliament and confirmed by the government before going to the king for ratification. It [...]
