By Staff Reporter
ISLAMABAD: Bahrain’s authorities have arrested six Asian expatriate workers, including five Pakistanis, accusing them of filming, publishing and reposting videos that the government says show the effects of Iranian military action and amount to glorification of attacks on the kingdom.
The Interior Ministry announced the detentions in a statement posted on Monday on the official police media center website. The Anti-Cyber Crime Directorate carried out the arrests after determining that the men had circulated material on their social media accounts that “contributed to misleading public opinion and spreading fear among citizens and residents,” the statement said.
Officials alleged that the suspects “expressed sympathy with and glorified those hostile acts in a manner that harms security and public order.” The videos were described as related to “the effects of the treacherous Iranian aggression,” language the ministry has repeatedly used to characterize recent Iranian strikes.
Legal proceedings have begun, and the six men — five Pakistanis and one Bangladeshi — have been referred to the public prosecution, the statement added. No names or further details about the suspects were released.
The arrests reflect the heightened security atmosphere in Bahrain as the small Gulf monarchy is drawn deeper into the widening Middle East conflict. The fighting began with US-Israeli strikes on Iran and has seen Tehran retaliate by targeting American bases and assets across the Gulf, including facilities in Bahrain, which hosts the US Navy’s 5th Fleet headquarters.
Earlier, the Interior Ministry issued a pointed warning on the social platform X, declaring that anyone who “betrays his country and cooperates in the aggression against Bahrain by photographing vital sites and facilities and publishing them on social media to be used in Iranian aggression is an accomplice in this aggression and will be punished according to the law.”
In its latest statement, the ministry went further, urging citizens and residents to obtain information exclusively from official sources and to refrain from circulating or reposting unverified videos or news. Doing so, it said, could lead to legal accountability while also helping “safeguard the nation’s security and safety.”
Bahrain has long maintained strict controls on online speech, particularly during periods of regional tension. The latest moves come as authorities seek to prevent any domestic echo of the Iranian actions or the dissemination of footage that could be exploited by Tehran’s forces. The statement did not specify what the videos depicted or whether any of the material involved images of sensitive military or infrastructure sites.
The detentions are the most concrete public action Bahrain has announced so far in response to the online fallout from the Iranian retaliation campaign. Officials have not said whether similar investigations are underway against Bahraini nationals or other expatriate communities.
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