US embassy cable - 05MANAMA728

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 MANAMA 000728 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 05/21/2015 
TAGS: PHUM, PGOV, PREL, BA 
SUBJECT: MINISTER OF INFORMATION DEFENDS WEBSITE 
REGISTRATION POLICY 
 
REF: A. MANAMA 374 B. MANAMA 363 
 
Classified By: Ambassador William T. Monroe.  Reason: 1.4 (B)(D) 
 
1. (C) Minister of Information Dr. Mohammed Abdul Ghaffar, 
during a May 17 discussion with the Ambassador, sought to 
explain and defend a recently-announced policy calling for 
the registration of all Bahrain internet sites with the 
Ministry of Information.  He stressed the policy should not 
be looked at as a restriction of freedom of speech, but 
rather an attempt to establish guidelines for online content 
publishers, to steer people -- especially Bahrain's youth -- 
towards a higher and cleaner level of discourse, and to 
provide a legal avenue for individuals to prosecute 
defamation, indecency or libel.  He said that people cannot 
be forced to register, and of course can easily open and 
operate websites from abroad.  As far as he knew, he added, 
there was no law in place to take someone to court who failed 
to register.  He passed a one-page paper giving background on 
the policy (see para 5). 
 
2. (C) Asked why the Ministry of Information decided to 
implement this policy now, Abdul Ghaffar did not mention the 
recently-arrested website operators, who are currently 
awaiting court proceedings (reftels), but rather talked in 
more general terms about increasing numbers of Bahraini 
youths who, instead of using websites for "good discussions," 
were resorting to dirty and defamatory language against 
people, including women.  "We thought that through 
registration," he said, "we might be able to show young 
people that they should be involved in a higher level of 
discussion."   He added that Bahrain is in the process of 
building democracy and must be careful not to let people 
exploit freedom of expression to send the democratic process 
in a wrong direction. 
 
3. (C) On May 3, approximately 100 people demonstrated in 
front of the Ministry of Information to protest the new 
policy.  Ali Abdul Imam, a website administrator who is 
currently facing charges for the content of the website 
bahrainonline.org, told us that, in his view, the 
government's intention is to find out the names of website 
administrators in order to hold them responsible for anything 
posted on their sites.  He noted that there are an estimated 
20,000 Bahraini websites, and that the government could not 
possibly keep track of them all.  He predicted that the 
policy would be applied selectively, and those whose websites 
have content critical of the government would be punished. 
International NGO Reporters without Borders criticized the 
policy, saying "this does not happen in any democratic 
country and is a threat to press freedom." 
 
4. (C) Comment: We understand from Ministry of Information 
sources that the Minister himself had some misgivings about 
the policy.  It remains to be seen how aggressively the 
Ministry pushes website operators to register, and how 
actively it uses the registration system to monitor and 
regulate website content.  End comment. 
 
5. (U) Following is the one-page paper entitled "Outline of 
Internet Website Registration Policy," which Abdul Ghaffar 
passed to the Ambassador: 
 
"The Directorate of Press and Publications has instituted a 
policy calling for the registration of all Bahrain Internet 
sites with the Ministry of Information.  The objective of the 
new policy measure is to integrate registration guidelines 
for online content publishers with those of traditional print 
and broadcast media.  Audio, visual, print, software, and 
other multimedia developers and content distributors are 
already required by practice in Bahrain and globally to 
register with a respective designated body to protect the 
rights of content owners and regulate distribution in 
accordance with the laws of the state and international 
community.  The new regulation will seek to extend this 
procedure as a matter of legal conformity to the new emerging 
presence of Internet content as a competing and alternate 
media outlet. 
 
"The measure will ideally serve to bolster the standard and 
content of sites and serve as legal safety nets to content 
viewers, Internet users, and prevent the illegal or malicious 
use of the Internet under similar guidelines used to regulate 
print and broadcast media.  Specifically in mind, the new 
regulation will seek to complement Bahrain's commitment to 
protect against intellectual copyright infringement on ideas, 
writings, arts, and other content deemed requiring protection 
under international copyright obligations.  The guidelines 
are designed to assist in the protection and development of 
e-commerce activities in Bahrain and geared towards 
preventing the establishment of Internet sites supporting 
fraudulent commercial activities, harming the natural 
environment, facilitating illegal financial transactions, or 
the sale of illegal goods and services as a confidence 
building measure to the business community, investors, and 
other societal interests in Bahrain and the region. 
Additionally, the regulation will seek to provide legal 
avenues for consumers, intellectuals, groups, non-government 
entities, and individuals to prosecute against defamation, 
public decency, and humanitarian ethics by holding content 
providers  or publishers libel.  This will be with specific 
regard to Internet media containing illegal pornography, 
pedophilia advocating ethnic, religious, or gender-based 
violence or hate crimes against certain communities, 
individuals, groups or minorities, or sites promoting 
terrorist activities, distributing information on explosives 
manufacturing or advocating assassinations. 
 
"In summary, the new regulation will seek, as its proposed 
mandate, to serve as an innovative legal measure geared 
towards anticipating continued growth in Internet activities 
and services as well as expected long term needs to introduce 
legal safeguards to content publishers, consumers, and users. 
 It will serve as an instrument to promote cooperation 
between the private sector, non-public sector, and Government 
to ensure the continued growth and development of web content 
in the public interest of safe and protected consumer, user, 
and developer activity.  Through continued consultations with 
Internet service providers, international regulators, content 
providers, the business community, educational institutions, 
societies, and domestic users, the policy will be approached 
with the utmost sensitivity and discretion to prevent any 
unnecessary obstacles to the growth and development of 
Internet content while helping to protect the legal interests 
of the respective parties." 
MONROE