Caught in the Net: Bahrain

Bahrain trumpets itself as one of the Middle East’s most wired countries. But some Bahrainis are fuming after their government recently shut down two popular Web sites whose discussion forums contained criticism of the current regime. On one forum, www.bahrainonline.org, which received about 200,000 daily hits, users had made allegations of state corruption. The government’s ...

Bahrain trumpets itself as one of the Middle East's most wired countries. But some Bahrainis are fuming after their government recently shut down two popular Web sites whose discussion forums contained criticism of the current regime. On one forum, www.bahrainonline.org, which received about 200,000 daily hits, users had made allegations of state corruption. The government's response? "There are no limits to freedom," said King Hamad bin Isa al-Khalifa, "but this freedom should be based on patriotism."

Bahrain trumpets itself as one of the Middle East’s most wired countries. But some Bahrainis are fuming after their government recently shut down two popular Web sites whose discussion forums contained criticism of the current regime. On one forum, www.bahrainonline.org, which received about 200,000 daily hits, users had made allegations of state corruption. The government’s response? "There are no limits to freedom," said King Hamad bin Isa al-Khalifa, "but this freedom should be based on patriotism."

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