CALL FOR THE IMMEDIATE RELEASE OF ANNA THERESA DAY

FFR calls for the release of member Anna Therese Day, detained in Bahrain with three crew members.

The following is a statement released by the family of Anna Therese Day about her detention and posted here. 

Statement regarding American journalist, Anna Therese Day, and colleagues, detained in Bahrain on 14 February 2016. 

American, independent journalist Anna Therese Day and three members of her camera crew were detained in Bahrain on 14 February while working in the country. They have not yet been released. The four are experienced journalists, having most recently worked on virtual reality documentary filmmaking in Egypt and Gaza, and we hope the Bahraini authorities will release them rapidly and without harm.

Anna Therese Day is an award-winning independent journalist. She is a 2016 Truman National Security Project fellow, 2016 adjunct professor at CUNY Graduate School of Journalism, a 2013 Fulbright Fellow, a 2012 United Nations Press Fellow, and was named one of Google Zeitgeist’s top 30 Great Young Minds of Our Time in 2011. Day is a regular contributor to The New York Times Women in the World. The Shorty Awards for Social Media recognized her as one of the Top 10 journalists of the Year at their 2013 and 2014 awards. Recently, she was named a national finalist for Running Start's Emerging Young Leader Awards and selected as one of Mic.com's #Mic50 Millennial Leaders 2015 list. In 2015, Day became a global brand ambassador for Skype's "The Things We Can Do" English-language campaign. 

Anna has reported from all over the Middle East and north Africa, India, Brazil and Mexico. Her work has been featured in a variety of media outlets, including the New York Times, CNN, Al Jazeera English, Daily Beast, CBS, Huffington Post, and numerous print outlets, translated into Arabic, English, Hebrew, and Spanish.

A Spokesperson for the family of Ms Day said: "Anna and her crew are committed journalists who only want to ensure they could undertake their profession ethically and thoroughly. The allegation that they were in any way involved in illegal behavior or anything other than journalistic activities is impossible. Anna Day is much loved and missed and we are concerned about her well being as well as that of her three American colleagues. We hope the Bahraini authorities will release all four journalists as soon as possible so they can return home."

-ENDS-

Notes for editors:

The other three journalists working with Ms Day have not yet been named and we would ask journalists to respect this in their reporting. 

Examples Ms Day's work can be found here: https://www.facebook.com/AnnaThereseDay/ 

Images of Ms Day for use by the media are attached.

GOOGLE, ACCESSNOW, FACEBOOK, CIVICUS, INTERNEWS PARTNER WITH PIN TO HOST INTERNET FREEDOM FORUM IN ABUJA, NIGERIA

Paradigm Initiative Nigeria, with support from AccessNow, Google, Facebook, Civicus and Internews, will host this year's Internet Freedom Forum in Abuja. The theme of the pan-African event that will host delegates from Cameroun, Cote d'Ivoire, Egypt, Gambia, Kenya, Nigeria, South Africa, Uganda, Zimbabwe, among others, is Rights are Rights, Online or Offline. 

Internet Freedom Forum is an annual forum that creates a platform for conversations on indices around Internet Freedom around the world. Internet Freedom Forum 2016 (#IFF2016) focuses on indices around Internet Freedom in African countries and the need to codify citizens’ right online. “The Digital Rights and Freedom Bill, which seeks to codify online rights in Nigeria, will be reviewed at the forum and presented as a model for adoption by other African countries,” according to ‘Gbenga Sesan, Executive Director at Paradigm Initiative Nigeria (PIN).

The keynote for the event will be delivered by Nani Jansen, Legal Director at Media Legal Defence Initiative (MLDI). She has acted in freedom of expression cases before national and international courts, and human rights tribunals, including the European Court of Human Rights, the African Court on Human and Peoples' Rights, the East African Court of Justice, the UN Human Rights Committee, the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention and the African Commission on Human and Peoples' Rights.

“Several experts, Internet Freedom advocates, journalists and government officials from all across Africa have confirmed participation at the event,” according to Adeboye Adegoke, Program Manager (ICT Policy) at PIN. Some of the confirmed panelists at the event include Hon. Chukwuemeka Ujam, Vice Chairman, House of Representatives Committee on Telecommunications;Edet Ojo, Executive Director, Media Rights Agenda; Titi Akinsanmi-Bolarinwa, Lead, Policy and Government Relations, Google; Ebele, Okobi, Head of Public Policy, Africa, Facebook; Ephraim Kenyanito, Sub-Saharan Africa Policy Analyst, AccessNow; Seun Onigbinde, Co-founder, BudgIT; popular blogger, Japheth Omojuwa; award-winning journalist, Tolu Ogunlesi; ‘Yemi Adamolekun, Executive Director, Enough is Enough Nigeria; and 'Gbenga Sesan, Executive Director, Paradigm Initiative Nigeria.

The Nigerian Minister of Communications, National Security Adviser, Director General of Department of State Security Service, and Executive Vice-Chairman of the Nigeria Communications Commission have been invited to provide government perspective to the conversation.

PIN’s Chief Operating Officer, Tope Ogundipe, urged interested individuals and organizations to immediately register on the event’s website, www.pinigeria.org/iff, “...because participation at the event is strictly by invitation. Successful applicants will be contacted by the #IFF2016 Secretariat at Paradigm Initiative Nigeria, and application to attend will be treated on a first-come, first-served basis until February 20, 2016”.