Open letter to king of Bahrain about the Internet censorship

Reporters Without Borders wrote today to the King of Bahrain, Hamad bin Isa al-Khalifa, about his government's Internet policies, condemning an increase in the censorship of online publications and, in particular, requesting the reopening of the site of the Arabic Network for Human Rights Information. Letter sent on 10 January to the King of Bahrain, Hamad bin Isa al-Khalifa, by Reporters Without Borders secretary-general Robert Ménard : "Your Majesty, Reporters Without Borders, an organisation that defends press freedom worldwide, is concerned about your Kingdom's Internet policies. In April 2005, your government adopted regulations that require websites dealing with Bahrain to register with your information ministry. We condemn this requirement at the time, believing that, although hard to apply, it seemed to indicate a desire to place inappropriate controls on the Internet. Access to many news websites, online political and religious publications, and blogs was blocked in October 2006, a month before legislative elections. Several of these online publications appear to have been banned for covering the "Bandargate," a political scandal in which people close to the government have been implicated. Nearly 20 of these websites are still inaccessible. We are particularly shocked by the banning for the website of the Network for Human Rights Information (HRinfo), which has been rendered inaccessible in your country since December. Blocking access to this site, which defends prisoners of conscience and free expression, is unacceptable. As we are confident that you would like to ensure respect for diversity of information as well as the rapid and unrestricted development of the Internet in your Kingdom, we hope that you will agree to overhaul your Internet policies. An initial sign of your commitment to online free expression would be to quickly lift the blocking of HRinfo. We trust you will give this matter your careful consideration."