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C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 MANAMA 000281



STATE FOR NEA/ARPI, DRL

E.O. 12958: DECL: 03/01/2015
TAGS: PHUM PGOV PREL BA
SUBJECT: POLICE ARREST WEBMASTER OF BAHRAIN ON-LINE
INTERNET SITE

REF: A. MANAMA 273
¶B. MANAMA 270

Classified by Ambassador William T. Monroe for reasons 1.4
(b) and (d).

¶1. (SBU) Police arrested "Bahrain On-Line" webmaster Ali
Abdul Imam February 27 and detained him for 15 days on
charges of incitement against the government and spreading
false rumors, charges that carry a maximum sentence of six
years in jail, according to Bahraini newspapers. Two
technical supervisors of the website, Sayed Mohammed Al
Mousawi and Hussein Yousef, were detained by the police
February 28 in connection with the case. The public
prosecutor's office announced that the arrests were made in
response to a complaint submitted by the Ministry of
Information. The 27-year old Abdul Imam runs the website,
available at www.bahrainonline.org, which functions as a
forum for posting speeches and statements and participating
in chat rooms on national, international, and religious
issues. The site has been banned inside Bahrain since 2002,
but administrators find technical ways to route users to the
site and so evade the ban. The site has an estimated
membership of about 20,000 and gets some 80,000 hits per day.

¶2. (SBU) According to Embassy sources and the press, the
website is hosted on a server in the United States.
Following Abdul Imam's arrest, police also interrogated his
32-year old sister Fatima because a phone line that connected
to a server in the U.S. two years ago was in her name. She
was not arrested and was released after two hours.

¶3. (SBU) Forty-five supporters of Abdul Imam held a silent
vigil in front of the public prosecutor's office February 28.
They held a banner reading, "Where is Freedom of
Expression?," and wore tape over their mouths to symbolize
their position that Abdul Imam had been silenced. Bahrain
Human Rights Society lawyer Mohammed Al Mutawa said he would
seek Abdul Imam's immediate release from detention. Leading
Shia opposition society Al Wifaq condemned the arrest and
said it was forming a lawyers' committee to defend Abdul Imam.

¶4. (SBU) Abdul Imam's family stated publicly that, though he
runs the website, he does not post his own views. Rather,
members write their comments in the many forums that are live
at any given time. Currently, under "National Forum," the
most popular page of the site, most of the postings concern
Abdul Imam's arrest. Some of the other chat rooms focus on
foreign affairs, religious topics, the recent constitutional
conference, and general discussion issues. There is also an
English language forum, which has at the top of the postings
newspaper articles about Abdul Imam's arrest.

¶5. (C) Bahrain On-Line is considered to reflect the views of
Shia rejectionists who are more religious, hardline, and
skeptical of Bahrain's reform movement than the more
mainstream Shia community. Despite his family's assertion,
our contacts have observed postings by the website's
administrators, including Abdul Imam. Chat room participants
tend to question the motives of the King, Crown Prince, and
Prime Minister, coming from a base position that Shia in
Bahrain will face discrimination as long as the Sunni Al
Khalifa family rules the country. The website played a role
in organizing demonstrations for Abdul Hadi Al Khawaja during
his detention in fall 2004 and, according to some,
contributed to the ultimately uncompromising position Al
Khawaja supporters adopted with regard to a face-saving deal
with the government. One Embassy contact, a serious and
credible Shia political analyst, referred to Abdul Imam and
his supporters as "radicals."

¶6. (C) Comment: The question on many people's minds is,
"Why now?" The government has known about Bahrain On-Line
for years, and while the website serves as a place to air
views of all kinds, including those opposed to the government
and royal family, our contacts did not notice any specific
posting or postings that would have led to Abdul Imam's
arrest at this time. We note that the arrest took place at a
time of heightened GOB sensitivity over the perceived Iranian
role inside Bahrain (Ref B) and the royal family's unified
front concerning preserving national security and ensuring
national unity (Ref A). The Ambassador will raise the case
in upcoming meetings with senior officials.