International Media Shut Out of Bahrain as Anniversary Approaches

Washington, DC – Today, a number of prominent journalists have reported on Twitter that they have been denied access to Bahrain in the run-up to the anniversary of the pro-democracy protests on February 14. Nick Kristof and Adam Ellick of the New York Times, Gregg Carlstrom of Al Jazeera, Cara Swift of the BBC and Kristen Chick of the Christian Science Monitor are among those who have been denied entry to Bahrain. This media shut out comes just days after international human rights monitors, including Human Rights First’s Brian Dooley, were denied entry to Bahrain. “This refusal to allow access for such prestigious media organizations is another ominous signal from the Bahrain government about what might happen this coming week,” said Dooley, author of a new report on the situation in Bahrain, Bahrain: The Gathering Storm. “The days approaching the anniversary are tense and rife with rumor. Bahrain’s refusal to admit human rights and media organizations only fuels suspicions that the government wants to hide the truth about its ongoing abuses.”