: 470 hate messages against Bahraini citizens were monitored due to the Coronavirus epidemic

The Bahrain Forum for Human Rights (BFHR) monitored 470 media materials and messages that incite or help incite hatred against Bahraini Shi'a Muslims, opposition activists, and human rights, political and media institutions between February 24 and March 3, 2020, against citizens with COVID-19 (which is the infectious disease caused by the Coronavirus). 
The BFHR said that the materials were divided into 466 materials on social media and 4 media articles in the official press, pointing out that some hate messages were broadcasted by names or accounts on which the official authorities depend to spread hate speeches.
The BFHR pointed out that the messages of hate speech, especially the most severe and self-affecting forms of contempt, were cruel to the extent that they encouraged to violate the right to life, liberty, and dignity, and advocated practicing racial discrimination or issuing sentences of revocation of nationality against patients. The BFHR added that these messages used terms of contempt against the beliefs of Shi a Muslims, noting that the Bahraini authorities provide an official environment that encourages those involved in hate speech to continue to use, develop and expand hate messages.
The BFHR explained that while the Cyber Crime Directorate, the Public Prosecution and the judicial authorities do not hesitate to pursue political and human rights activists and citizens for exercising freedom of expression and to use the National Security Agency, the Criminal Investigations Directorate and other security services under the supervision of the Minister of Interior (member of the Supreme Defense Council) to revenge, torture and abuse citizens because they criticized the government or used social media for the same purpose, expressing anti-government views, they do not take any action  as usual  against those involved in spreading hate messages against citizens for political reasons.

The BFHR relied on the six elements proposed for criminally banned expressions adopted by the Rabat Plan of Action on the prohibition of advocacy of national, racial or religious hatred that constitutes incitement to discrimination, hostility or violence – which are context, speaker, intent, content and form, extent of the speech act, and likelihood, including imminence – in accordance with Article 20 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, as follows:
o    Context: Hate messages have been published in conjunction with the political and human rights crisis in Bahrain, which has been ongoing since February 14, 2011. Official parties use local, regional and international events as justifications to systematically promote hate speech through media and digital platforms. In many periods, the BFHR monitored subjecting citizens to arbitrary measures, such as arbitrary arrests, aggravating judicial rulings for political reasons, issuing sentences of revocation of nationality or restricting freedom of association, as a result of hate campaigns.

o    Speaker: The names who published or caused hate messages were distributed among the following: journalists in the Bahraini al-Watan, Akhbar al-Khaleej and al-Ayam newspapers, who are: Saeed al-Hamad, Mona al-Mutawa, and Hisham al-Zayani; electronic accounts that are active during the campaigns of the official Cyber Crime Directorate, which are designated – by virtue of experience – to respond with hate materials to accounts that publish news criticizing the official authorities; and some of the names known for spreading hatred, such as the former broadcaster on Bahrain TV, Mohammed al-Bishri (al-Shorouqi), who is involved in spreading hate speech that affected even citizens of Kuwait.
o    Intent: According to Paragraph 2 of Article 20 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, the "intention" whose purpose from the speech and the subject is to "advocate" and "incite" hatred constitutes a criminal matter. This is proven through the following: the repetition of these monitored names or accounts that spread hate speeches that encourage harming citizens for political reasons throughout the past periods; some of them have suffered real harm, such as the harm done as a result of the episodes broadcasted by journalist Saeed al-Hamad on Bahrain TV or the extremist Wisal channel.
o    Content or form: Most of the monitored hate materials that have been published due to Coronavirus were characterized by containing the commonly-used hate terms in Bahrain that are used by state officials or those who publish press articles in the four government newspapers (examples of some terms are in item 5). Below are some of the calls contained in the hate messages against patients infected with Coronavirus after their return from Iran:
1. Calling for the execution of patients infected with Coronavirus and the cremation of their bodies.
2. Calling for revoking the nationalities of patients with Coronavirus.
3. Calling for the arrest of patients with Coronavirus, on charges of threatening national security.
4. Calling for the quarantine of sick people in Hussainiyas and ma’atams and disrespecting their religious beliefs.
5. Calling for arbitrary procedures of quarantine.
6. Incitement to prevent receiving sick citizens from abroad and not to provide them with the necessary assistance.
7. Describing the patients with Coronavirus by the following terms: garbage, Magi, Iranian spies, Safavids, backward Shiites, grave worshipers, spy and terrorism sheep used as biological weapons, people of infidelity, immorality, debauchery and impurity, sectarian traitors, mut'ah marriage, those infected with Coronavirus are our first enemy.
o    Extent of the speech act: All hate messages were published on social media, some of them were comments on well-known accounts, and others, in particular videos, were widely spread on social media, such as the video of media professional, Muhammad al-Bishri, who described Shi'a Muslims as “followers of the Safavid religion and the turbans of infidelity and evil,” or political activist Muhammad al-Zayani, who disrespected Shi'a Muslim beliefs by talking about mut'ah marriage and using a term that has an obscene sexual impression.
o    Likelihood, including imminence: The Cyber Crime Directorate has not taken any action against the accounts or the persons inciting and pumping hate speeches, and it thus helps to tear the social fabric, reinforces the fact that the official authorities provide the official cover that enables those involved in hate speeches to enjoy impunity and escape criminal justice, and helps using the Coronavirus as a way of pressuring citizens due to their religious or political affiliations.
The BFHR noted that International human rights law prohibits “any advocacy of national, racial or religious hatred that constitutes incitement to discrimination, hostility or violence.” Implementation of this prohibition by states over the years has been uneven and sometimes used as a pretext to restrict lawful speech or target minority groups. Any steps must be taken to combat hate speech within the limits of general guarantees of freedom of expression.

The Bahrain Forum for Human Rights
March 4, 2020