Manama: The media adviser to Bahrain’s King has denied claims that directives had been issued to newspapers not to publish opinions or views that criticised the recent official move to relaunch the stalled national dialogue.
“There is no ban on any point of view that differs from the agreement reached last week to restart the National Dialogue,” Nabeel Al Hamer said. “The claim by some columnists that they had been banned from publishing their views is not true,” the adviser posted in a series of tweets.
Two opinion pieces by regular columnists Sawsan Al Shaer and Tariq Al Amer did not appear in their dailies on Sunday, sparking a wide range of speculations about the reason for withholding them.
The two columns were published online and were subsequently widely circulated, but no reason was given for their non-publication in Al Watan and Al Bilad dailies.
In their columns, Sawsan and Tariq criticised the decision announced last week by the Royal Court the start of a new round of talks with the opposition under a new format after the national dialogue launched on February 10 was suspended.
The two columnists in their separate views said that the state should be strict in applying the law instead of making compromises with the opposition and accepting to sit with its members, accusing them of holding an antagonistic view towards the political regime and segments of the people.
On Monday, Al Watan said that Sawsan Al Shaer, its star columnist, was on a break and that her column would reappear when she is back.
However, the social media in Bahrain was awash with claims that Sawsan had been in fact banned from publishing her columns.
Al Hamer, the former editor in chief of Al Ayam daily and an ex minister of information, said that he was opposed to imposing a ban on any Bahraini columnist expressing views on the local developments “as long as he is committed to journalistic ethics and to avoiding libel and defamations.”
The media adviser advocated the need to hold the new round of talks in a new format for the sake of the country.
“The national dialogue as per the criteria and standards that have been set will achieve stability for the nation and will allow the unmasking of the faces of treason,” he said. “The dialogue will be held based on our national values and there will be no compromises on them. Bahrain is not for sale or for bargain. At the same time, no one should believe they can outbid others in their patriotism. You cannot be more patriotic than His Majesty the King and you are not keener than His Majesty on the protecting the nation and preserving the unity of its people,” he said.
King Hamad Bin Eisa Al Khalifa is drawing all efforts and good intentions from all parties to bring the nation back together and reinforce the diversity and pluralism that have characterised the Bahraini society, he added.
“I do respect the views of all people, but please do not believe you are more patriotic than us. Whoever said that by heading towards the dialogue, we will give up the rights of the nation and citizens and that the new round of the dialogue is in fact a retreat from the national values used to confront sabotage and terrorism, should appreciate that we are in fact seeking national consensus for the sake of all segments of the Bahraini society,” he said.
