Bahrain added to list of internet censoring countries

The organization Reporters Without Border has added Bahrain together with Belarus to the "Enemies of the Internet" blacklist. China, North Korea, and Saudi Arabia were already on the list. The group maintained that Internet users were"at the heart of the political changes in the Arab world and elsewhere".

The group said that Bahrain ramped up censorship efforts after protests began back on Feb. 14th last year. The report said:"Bahrain offers a perfect example of successful crackdowns, with an information blackout achieved through an impressive arsenal of repressive measures: exclusion of the foreign media, harassment of human rights defenders, arrests of bloggers and netizens (one of whom died behind bars), prosecutions and defamation campaigns against free expression activists, disruption of communications,"

In Belarus as well the government initiated a brutal crackdown that included the interrogation of 100 journalists. Almost a third were given prison terms.

Libya was praised and was removed from the list of countries which RWB had under surveillance. Venezuela was also removed from the list. However, India and Kazakhstan have been added. For more see this article.