UK’s Special Envoy Amal Clooney called upon to urge the government to pressure Bahrain into respecting human rights

Several international and regional human rights organisations have called upon Special Envoy on Media Freedom, Amal Clooney, to spur on the UK government to pressure its ally Bahrain to protect freedom of expression and freedom of the press. The request comes in light of the restrictions on freedom of expression online by the Bahraini government which has been banning the activities of independent media outlets and amending the cybercrime law to restrict online freedoms. The new cybercrime law imposes vaguely defined crimes that clamp down on digital activism and political dissent. Earlier in June Twitter announced that such new measures would ‘pose a significant risk to free expression and journalism’ in Bahrain.