A growing number of Bahraini activists and journalists are being interrogated, charged and banned from traveling as the Council’s 36th session commences in Geneva.
The JSC specifically condemned the harassment of freelance journalist Ahmed Radhi and video blogger Faisal Hayyat.
On Wednesday, Bahrain’s public prosecutor charged Radhi with taking part in an “illegal gathering”.
Both Radhi and Hayyat were banned from leaving Bahrain in April just days before the U.N. Human Rights Commission conducted its Universal Periodic Review (UPR) of the Gulf kingdom.
According to Reporters Without Borders (RSF), 14 journalists and citizen-journalists are currently detained in Bahrain for broaching sensitive subjects.
In 2016, the regime intensified its crackdown against dissident journalists, which culminated in the closure of the country’s last independent newspaper, Al Wasat.
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