Trial opens

The trial of 21 people accused of belonging to terrorist organizations and trying to overthrow the government opened before a military court. The defendants included several human rights activists and the bloggers Abdul Jalil Al-Singace and Ali Abdulemam (who was being tried in absentia). Abdulemam is regarded by fellow Bahrainis as one of his country’s Internet pioneers and is an active member of Bahrain Online, a pro-democracy forum that gets more than 100,000 visitors a day despite being blocked within Bahrain. A contributor to the international bloggers network Global Voices, he has taken part in many international conferences at which he has denounced human rights violations in Bahrain.