Bahrain’s internet censorship has become a critical tool for the government in maintaining control over its citizens and repressing dissent. With increasing reliance on digital technology, the Bahraini authorities have implemented pervasive mass surveillance, content blocking, propaganda, and online monitoring to restrict freedom of expression and control individuals.
Amnesty International reports that spyware and tracking tools are used to target individuals for harassment, deepening power imbalances and eroding personal freedoms. Bahraini authorities deploy spyware to monitor the personal communications of activists, journalists, and opposition figures. In 2014, the government used the malicious FinFisher software to track the emails and WhatsApp messages of prominent Bahraini human rights defenders and researchers from Citizen Lab have detected Pegasus spyware on the devices of at least a dozen Bahraini activists since 2020.
The government’s efforts to suppress online criticism are justified through vague laws, such as the 2014 Cybercrime Law, which criminalizes actions perceived as anti-government or critical of the ruling regime and it consequently allows the government to censor critical content and prosecute human rights defenders. Also, the penal code includes various punishments for offenses such as insulting the king or state institutions, contradicting the government’s policies and spreading false news including on social media.
Some notable examples include the human rights defender and blogger Abduljalil Al-Singace who has been arbitrarily detained since 2011 after being sentenced to life in prison on charges of “plotting to overthrow the government” and another prominent HRD, Nabeel Rajab, who was charged for insulting a statutory body on Twitter in 2012 and released in 2020.
Additionally, Bahrain’s state-controlled internet providers are empowered to block content critical of the government, and during times of political unrest, this can result in complete internet shutdowns, suppressing dissent.
In such an environment, news outlets, media, and digital activism are also under government control or operate self-censorship. In 2021, the Bahrain Press Association documented 49 media freedom violations, including arrests of journalists and activists for their cyber activities. Ali Mearaj and Hassan Qambar, respectively arrested in 2016 and 2018 have been excluded from the recent releases.
Following the COVID-19 pandemic Bahrain has quickly adopted tracking systems that raised concerns about privacy. One example is the “BeAware Bahrain” app, which was launched by the authorities to curb the spread of the virus by tracing contacts and capturing location data but also posed significant threats to privacy and security, potentially normalizing surveillance tools that could later be used for invasive governmental control.
As the government continues to violate fundamental rights like freedom of speech and privacy under the guise of cybercrime prevention and counter-terrorism, citizens, journalists, and activists struggle to freely voice their views online. ECDHR calls on Bahrain to stop the digital authoritarianism which resulted in serious human rights violations and arbitrary detentions of critics. The government must amend the vague and overly broad cybercrime laws imposed to silence the right to freedom of expression. Also, ECDHR urges Bahraini authorities to immediately and unconditionally release all the individuals imprisoned for expressing their opinions and uphold its human rights obligations.