Statement on Behalf of the Families of the Four US Journalists Arrested in Bahrain on 14 February

The families of four US journalists who were arrested in Bahrain on 14 February can confirm that they have been released from detention. While we believe the four should not have been held at all, we are grateful to the Bahraini authorities for facilitating their timely release. We are awaiting news of their current location and hope they will be free to return to the United States as soon as possible.

We are grateful to everyone in Bahrain, the United States and around the world who offered help and assistance in securing their release.

One of the journalists is Anna Therese Day, an independent journalist. Her bio is included below. The families of the other three wish their names to remain private.

We ask for privacy for the journalists and their families as they return home. We will notify the press on their return of any further statements or comments the journalists themselves wish to make.

The four American journalists were detained on 14 February while covering protests to mark the fifth anniversary of the uprising in Bahrain. They appeared in court this morning and have been released from detention this afternoon.

They remain in Bahrain and we will not be commenting further until they are in transit.

The families ask all media requests be sent to:

Jesse Ayala Jr (colleague): [email protected]
Emma Beals (colleague): [email protected]

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.

Contact:
Thomas Burr, 202-662-7517