Freedom of Speech
The government claims that the press is free. However, the Penal Code of 1976, still active today, has been widely criticized by local and international human rights bodies for granting the regime widespread powers to suppress dissent. Human Rights Watch noted in 2004 that the Penal Code gives the government "wide latitude to suppress public criticism" and that it "has provisions that contradict international human rights standards". Amnesty International in 2004 stated the Code can be used "as a justification to restrict freedom of expression. The organization reiterates its call for the Code to be reviewed as soon a possible to ensure compliance with international human rights standards."
According to Human Right Watch 2011 country report and the international press, freedom of the press both in print and on web sites is severely with websites blocked, journalists allegedly tortured and editors fired.
Read more about this topic: Human Rights In Bahrain
Famous quotes containing the words freedom and/or speech:
“A girl must allow others to share the responsibility for care, thus enabling others to care for her. She must learn how to care in ways appropriate to her age, her desires, and her needs; she then acts with authenticity. She must be allowed the freedom not to care; she then has access to a wide range of feelings and is able to care more fully.”
—Jeanne Elium (20th century)
“I, schooled in misery, know many purifying rites, and I know where speech is proper and where silence.”
—Aeschylus (525–456 B.C.)