Bahrain is a small oil-rich island in the Persion Gulf that regards itself as a constitutional monarchy. In fact, it has been controlled by a single family, the Al-Khalifas, since the end of the 18th century.
The king, Hamad, is an Al-Khalifa. The crown prince is an Al-Khalifa. The prime minister, appointed by the king in 1971, is an Al-Khalifa (who happens to be the king’s uncle). The foreign minister is an Al-Khalifa.
The Al-Khalifas are Sunnis who rule over a restless Shia majority. The judiciary is not independent. The media are anything but free.
According to a BBC profile in November 2014, Bahraini journalists risk prosecution for offences which include “undermining” the government and religion. During anti-government protests in 2011, journalists were targeted by security forces and police.
Among them was Nazeeha Saeed, the Bahrain correspondent of the French TV news channel France 24 and Radio Monte Carlo Doualiya.
In May 2011, Reporters Without Borders (RWB) told how Nazeeha was tortured after she was summoned to a police station in the city of Rifa’a. She had done nothing more than cover the pro-democracy demonstrations.
A female officer accused her of “lying” in her reports and demanded that she admit her links with the Hezbollah TV station Al-Manar and the Iranian Arabic-language TV station Al-Alam.
She was slapped, seized by the hair and thrown to the ground (as the Guardian also reported at the time). Four policewomen then proceeded to slap, punch and kick her repeatedly. One forced a shoe into her mouth and said: “You are worth less than this shoe.”
With the shoe still in her mouth, Nazeeha was blindfolded and forced to kneel on a chair, exposing her back and the soles of her feet, which were beaten with a piece of plastic tubing.
In a second interrogation session she was blindfolded again and humiliated by being told to bray like a donkey and walk like an animal. At one point, a female officer held a plastic bottle against her mouth and told her: “Drink, it’s urine.”
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