10. Bahrain
Restrictions on the press have steadily worsened since pro-democracy protests began in 2011. Media control is made simple by the fact that the government owns all broadcast media outlets and the private owners of the three main newspapers have close ties to the state. The government and its supporters have used the press to smear human rights and opposition activists. Self-censorship is encouraged by the vaguely worded 2002 Press Law, which allows the state to imprison journalists for criticizing the king or Islam, or for threatening "national security."
Many domestic journalists have been arrested and detained without warrants and confessions have been extracted through torture. The prominent blogger Ali Abdulemam, a regular contributor to the popular opposition web forum Bahrain Online, was sentenced, in absentia to 15 years in prison by a military court in 2011, and he remained missing in 2012.
The government continues to block a number of opposition websites, including those that broadcast protests. The authorities also obstructed foreign journalists' through the denial of visas and arrests and deportations of those who have tried to cover protest demonstrations. A Shi'a media exists only outside the country, but the state has spent huge amounts on cyber censorship and monitoring capabilities and has become increasingly effective at blocking access to foreign-based sites.
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