Nabeel Rajab (left), Ali Abdulemam (middle) and Abdulhadi Alkhawaja (right) in a pro-democracy march on 23 February

Ali Hassan Abdullah Abdulemam ( ar, علي حسن عبد الله عبد الامام), widely known as Ali Abdulemam () is a

Bahrain Bahrain ( ; ; ar, البحرين, al-Bahrayn, locally ), officially the Kingdom of Bahrain, ' is an island country in Western Asia. It is situated on the Persian Gulf, and comprises a small archipelago made up of 50 natural islands and an ...

i liberal

blog A blog (a truncation of "weblog") is a discussion or informational website published on the World Wide Web consisting of discrete, often informal diary-style text entries (posts). Posts are typically displayed in reverse chronological order s ...

ger and contributor to Global Voices. He is the founder of Bahrain Online, a popular online forum and pro-democracy news website, and a member of the research and advocacy group Bahrain Watch. Although he went into hiding in March 2011 to escape the Bahraini Government's crackdown on protesters, he was convicted in absentia for plotting to overthrow the Government, and sentenced to 15 years in prison. Global human rights organizations are unconvinced of Abdulemam's guilt and have voiced opposition to the persistent censorship and obstruction of journalists in the region. In 2013, Abdulemam escaped to the UK where he was swiftly granted political asylum.

Life

Bahrain Online

Abdulemam started Bahrain Online as an anonymous blog in 1998, but revealed his identity later in 2002. The site rapidly became one of Bahrain's most popular and featured contributions to forums from members of the Bahraini opposition. In late 2002, the government of Bahrain ordered the national internet service provider,

Batelco BTC is the primary telecommunications provider for the Bahamas, headquartered in Nassau, New Providence. It is partly government owned and offers telephone, internet and wireless services. BTC is an initialism for the Bahamas Telecommunications ...

, to block access to the site, which was hosted in the US. Contributors and readers were able to access the site by using

censorship Censorship is the suppression of speech, public communication, or other information. This may be done on the basis that such material is considered objectionable, harmful, sensitive, or "inconvenient". Censorship can be conducted by governments ...

circumvention tools. In February 2005, Bahraini authorities raided Abdulemam's home in

Jidhafs Jidhafs ( ar, جدحفص, Jid Ḥafṣ) is a city in Bahrain. It was a municipality of Bahrain in the northern part of the country. Its territory is now in the Capital and Northern Governorate. It is about 3 km west of the capital Manama. It ...

while Abdulemam was at work. When he learned of the raid, Abdulemam turned himself into authorities to face charges of "inciting hatred of the government". He and his web team were released after 15 days in custody.

2010 arrest and torture

In August 2010, Abdulemam was arrested by Bahraini authorities, accused of "spreading false information". He was imprisoned from September 4, 2010, until late February 2011. Reporters Without Borders reports that he was denied a lawyer and fired from his work at

Gulf Air Gulf Air ( ar, طيران الخليج ''Ṭayarān al-Khalīj'') is the state-owned airline and the flag carrier of Bahrain, which was founded in 1950 by British Pilot Freddie Bosworth as Gulf Aviation. Headquartered in Muharraq, the airli ...

. His arrest has led to protests from human rights groups across the

Arab world The Arab world ( ar, اَلْعَالَمُ الْعَرَبِيُّ '), formally the Arab homeland ( '), also known as the Arab nation ( '), the Arabsphere, or the Arab states, refers to a vast group of countries, mainly located in Western A ...

. The government of

accused him in statement released by the state-run Bahrain News Agency of trying to subvert the regime. and he was charged with "spreading false information" After his release, Abdulemam spoke to Al Jazeera about torture he experienced while in government custody.

2011 disappearance and sentencing in absentia

Three weeks after his release from custody on February 23, 2011, Abdulemam went missing. He and 20 other prominent Bahraini opposition figures were tried in front of a military court in June 2011, accused of plotting a coup against the Bahraini government. Abdulemam was sentenced to 15 years in prison, ''

in absentia is Latin for absence. , a legal term, is Latin for "in the absence" or "while absent". may also refer to: * Award in absentia * Declared death in absentia, or simply, death in absentia, legally declared death without a body * Election in ab ...

''.

Escape from Bahrain

On May 10, 2013, it emerged that Abdulemam had escaped from Bahrain. He had gone into hiding shortly after the start of the Government's crackdown on protesters in March 2011 to avoid arrest. Activists, consulting with a member of Denmark's Jaeger Corps hatched a plan to get Abdulemam out of the country. The plan was to have American artist Tyler Ramsey visit Bahrain with an entourage including Elizabeth Chambers and two Abdulemam doppelgangers. Abdulemam was to switch places with a member of Ramsey's entourage in a fast food restaurant at the airport. Ramsey and his entourage would then depart for Cyprus on a chartered jet from a special VIP area at Bahrain Airport, where they would not be subject to security checks or interviews. However, before the plan could be set into motion, Abdulemam escaped Bahrain via the causeway to Saudi Arabia in a car with a hidden compartment. From Saudi Arabia, he traveled by land and sea through Kuwait and Iraq, before departing on flight to London. He was granted asylum in the UK shortly after his arrival.

CEPOS Freedom Award

On May 21, 2013, the Danish think tank

CEPOS Centre for Political Studies, also known as CEPOS, is an independent association which works as a classical liberal/free-market conservative think-tank in Denmark. It is a strongly right-leaning and highly political association. History Inspired ...

held their annual Freedom Award, where Abduleman received the Freedom Prize of $60,000. The event was streamed live over the internet and Abdulemams speech was subsequently uploaded to YouTube.

Personal life

Ali Abdulemam is married to Jenan Al Oraibi and has three sons and two twin daughters

References

External links

Official blogAli Abdulemam speaking at the CEPOS Freedom Award, 21 May 2013
{{DEFAULTSORT:Abdulemam, Ali Living people Bahraini bloggers Bahraini dissidents Bahraini prisoners and detainees Bahraini human rights activists Bahraini torture victims People of the Bahraini uprising of 2011 Anonymous bloggers Year of birth missing (living people)