University of Wisconsin has called for alumnus and journalist Anna Day’s safe and swift release after she was detained in Bahrain Sunday.
While working for Frontline Freelance Register, Day, who graduated in 2010, was detained with three members of her camera crew.
According to a Reuters article, Bahrain’s interior ministry issued a statement saying the group was “suspected of offenses including entering Bahrain illegally, having submitted false information to border staff and participating in an unlawful gathering.”
UW expressed concern in a statement.
“We are proud of alumna Anna Day and stand with her and her family, friends and colleagues during this difficult time. We hope for her safe and swift release,” UW spokesperson Meredith McGlone said.
Day co-founded Frontline Freelance Register, a platform for freelance writers that aims to improve international news coverage.
The organization issued a statement Monday calling for the immediate release of Day and her crew members.
“The allegation that they were in any way involved in illegal behavior or anything other than journalistic activities is impossible,” the statement said. “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.”
According to Reuters, Day and her crew had just finished working on a virtual reality documentary in Egypt and Gaza.
A 2014 OnWisconsin article interviewed Day about her passion for social movement and journalism.
“Through my mentors and professors at the UW, I understood very clearly the kinds of compromises I would have to make to work in mainstream media,” Day said in the article.
Day has won multiple awards in her career and is a regular contributor to The New York Times Women in the World. The Shorty Awards for Social Media awarded her “one of the Top 10 journalists of the Year” in 2013 and 2014.
