(BCHR/IFEX) – BCHR has expressed its concern about the news revealed by Ms Ghada Jamsheer, a women’s rights activist and president of the Bahrain Women’s Petition, of the existence of a formal decision preventing her from appearing in any of the Bahraini media. Ms Jamsheer stated that the ban includes radio, television and all local […]
(BCHR/IFEX) – BCHR has expressed its concern about the news revealed by Ms Ghada Jamsheer, a women’s rights activist and president of the Bahrain Women’s Petition, of the existence of a formal decision preventing her from appearing in any of the Bahraini media. Ms Jamsheer stated that the ban includes radio, television and all local newspapers.
Sources in Bahrain link this media ban to the Bahraini Royal Court and to Ghada Jamsheer’s April 2007 letter to the King, Sheikh Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa, calling for the dissolution of the Supreme Council for Women, chaired by the King’s wife, Sheikha Sabika Bint Ibrahim Al-Khalifa, due to its failure to promote women’s rights and its political loyalty to the Government.
Ghada Jamsheer is a prominent defender of women’s rights in the Gulf region and, in 2006, was named one of the heroes of freedom in the Arab region by the American magazine “Time” and one of the ten most influential women in the Arab countries by “Forbes” magazine.
In May 2006, BCHR issued a statement shedding light on the death threats, bugging and harassment faced by Ms Jamsheer in relation to a statement published in local newspapers.
