“Imprisoned bloggers were tortured”
Wednesday, December 29, 2004We all have our complaints against the Bahraini government and the parliament for sometimes restricting free speech and especially free press through the Press Law, the Societies Law, the proposed law on gatherings (1, 2), and blocking some websites. Despite all of the problems though I think it is safe to say that Bahraini bloggers have, as of yet, not had any problems in speaking our minds about politics, human rights, the royal family, or anything. (If any Bahraini bloggers have encountered problems then please tell).
Unfortunately not all of our blogger comrades in the region enjoy this freedom. (Via Winds of Change) In a recent blog entry, Mohammad Ali Abtahi, an Iranian politician and former VP of Parliamentary Affairs, has published some details of interrogation and torture faced by the Iranian bloggers who were imprisoned earlier. This blog entry (written in Persian) has been translated into English by UK-based Iranian blogger Parthisan. Here is the start of the translation:
Following a call from the President, the constitutional supervision committee -- of which I'm a member -- invited a number of imprisoned bloggers for a meeting to investigate about the way they were treated in prison. Mr Hanif Mazruee, Ghoreishi, Ms Fereshte Ghaazi, Naderpoor and Ms Mahboobeh Mollagholi attended the meeting. They told very important points about the unjustifiable treatment they had received, including:
1- Physical torture, punches and kicks: "he banged my head to the bench that made my recently-operated nose bleed, and later I found out that they broke my nose"; "they punched us"; "we were alone in single cells for months"; and things of this kind... (Continue)
Read the rest here.
This entry was posted
on Wednesday, December 29, 2004 at 12/29/2004 04:24:00 pm. Permalink
12/29/2004 07:31:00 pm
It and when the Bashmi law comes to pass it will indeed raise the level of press freedoms to unprecidented levels. That together with another law he proposed regarding media ownership and operation in Bahrain (print, radio and television) would allow Bahrain to surpass THE WHOLE Arab world and will undoubtedly eclipse Dubai as the main destination of media companies who - if their editorial policy is of any worth - would move to Bahrain in their droves.