Bahraini journalists to go on trial

NEW: The trial has been postponed until Sunday The three men are charged with fabrication of news to disturb public security Al-Wasat newspaper is accused of "deliberate news fabrication" during Bahrain's unrestThe government has tried to crack down on protests

(CNN) -- The trial of three Bahraini opposition journalists accused of fabricating news to disrupt peace during the civil unrest in the Gulf state adjourned after a few minutes Wednesday.

Civilian High Court judges postponed proceedings until Sunday after the defense presented documents showing detailed communications between editors of Al-Wasat newspaper, King Hamad and other top government officials.

In the correspondence, the editors express their beliefs that they're working for peace and stability. Other communications with senior officials discuss articles from the paper that call for calm and restraint.

Mansoor al-Jamri, former editor-in-chief of the publication, Walid Nouwaihidh, former managing editor and Aqeel Mirza, the former head of the local news department, are on trial after being forced to quit the publication in April. A fourth man, Ali al-Sharifi, is being tried in absentia.

"Al-Wasat newspaper has been charged with fabricating news knowingly and with the aim of spreading some sort of discord and unrest amongst the population, which is not true," al-Jamri told CNN.

After Wednesday's delay, he said he is encouraged that the judges want to hear the evidence in the case.

At the time the men were forced from Al-Wasat in April, the state-run Bahrain News Agency reported that the Information Affairs Authority had "instigated legal proceedings" against the daily newspaper following the firings.

"The flagrant press irregularities committed by Bahrain daily Al-Wasat will be referred to the International Federation of Journalists and the Arab Journalists Union," the news agency reported.

Accusations against Al-Wasat also included "deliberate news fabrication and falsification during the recent unrest which gripped the Kingdom of Bahrain," according to the news agency.

Bahrain is one of several Middle East and North African countries embroiled in anti-government protests. To quell the protests, the Bahraini government called in troops from member states of the Gulf Cooperation Council.

The ruling royal family -- Sunnis in a majority-Shiite nation -- accuses protesters of being motivated by sectarian differences and supported by Iran.

"Every Shia now is a criminal," al-Jamri said. "Every Shia in Bahrain is considered by the state ... an enemy of the state and unfortunately this is not a recipe for calm in the future."

Government officials say 1,300 people were dismissed from their jobs, but up to 900 have been reinstated.

But it's a figure opposition sources dispute, saying they believe more than 2,000 jobs have been lost, nearly all of them held by Shia Muslims.

CNN's Nic Robertson and Mohammed Jamjoom contributed to this report.

CNN

Group: Bahraini activist's home attacked

The home of Nabeel Rajab is tear gassedThe attack follows a similar one in AprilRajab is president of the Bahrain Center for Human Rights

(CNN) -- The home of prominent Bahraini activist Nabeel Rajab was attacked Saturday, the rights group he heads said.

The attack took place early Saturday morning while Rajab and his family were sleeping, said the Bahrain Center for Human Rights. Assailants launched teargas grenades into the house, breaking the window of Rajab's brother, the group said.

"We had very frightening moments rescuing my brother, his wife and his daughter as they were close to serious suffocation. This is an attempt to murder a member of my family to pressure me to stop my human rights activities," said Rajab, president of the Center.

"Thank God the teargas bombs fell on the tile and not the carpet, which could have caused a fire and could have killed the whole family while they were asleep," he said. "Please do whatever you can to stop the government from attacking me and my family who have nothing to do with my human rights work."

Saturday marked the second attack on Rajab's home in about a month. In April, assailants lobbed teargas over a high wall surrounding his and his mother's houses, Human Rights Watch reported. After that attack, the New York-based rights group called on the government of Bahrain to investigate, saying the attack appeared to target Rajab for his advocacy work.

Human Rights Watch said then that it knew of no entity other than Bahrain's security forces that would have access to the kind of grenades used in the April attack.

There was no immediate response to the Human Right Watch statement by the Bahraini government.

The country is ruled by the Al-Khalifa family, which has been in power since the 18th century. Many protesters are calling for the removal of the royal family, whom they blame for the country's high unemployment rate and for running a corrupt government that relies on torture and other harsh measures to clamp down on dissent.

On March 20, about 25 people in about a dozen cars pulled up to Rajab's house and took him to the offices of the Interior Ministry's investigative department. There, according to Rajab, he was beaten, blindfolded and interrogated about an armed suspect they believed he knew.

The government confirmed the arrest but provided no other details.

Rajab is one of hundreds of Bahrainis to be detained by security forces in recent months. The arrests, according to human rights activists, have often been violent and have taken place at night.

Bahrain, where the U.S. Navy anchors its Fifth Fleet, is a small, predominantly Shiite country governed by a Sunni royal family.

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