4 arrested U.S. journalists apparently set to leave Bahrain

MANAMA, Bahrain -- A defense lawyer for four U.S. journalists charged in Bahrain said Tuesday that they were heading to the airport to fly out of the country.

Mohammed al-Jishi told The Associated Press that the journalists -- three men and a woman -- had left a police station and were on their way to the airport to fly out Tuesday night.

Al-Jishi said authorities put no travel ban on the four, despite them facing a charge after being arrested on Sunday while covering the fifth anniversary of Bahrain's 2011 uprising.

Bahrain police said it detained the four for providing "false information that they were tourists" and also alleged that one took part in an attack on Bahraini officers.

Earlier in the day, prosecutors said they had charged the journalists with illegally assembling with the intent to commit a crime.

Witnesses identified the woman as Anna Therese Day, an American freelance journalist who had contributed previously to The Huffington Post.

In a statement, The Huffington Post told The Associated Press that Day, who had blogged on the website and appeared on its HuffPost Live program, was not on assignment for the outlet at the time of her arrest.

"The safety of journalists is of utmost importance to The Huffington Post and we have security measures in place for our reporters around the world," the statement read. "Anna Day is not employed or contracted by The Huffington Post."

Photographs of the reporters working in Sitra, a largely Shiite community south of the capital that has seen repeated protests, circulated on social media, including one image of Day being filmed while speaking to a masked protester.

On Sunday, police arrested a photographer working with the group, the two witnesses said. Later that night, police surrounded the area with checkpoints and arrested the other three, they said. The witnesses spoke to the AP on condition of anonymity for fear of being arrested.