Manama: Bahrain on Tuesday said that it had temporarily shut down the office of Al Jazeera television station for "violating professional conventions."
"The Ministry of Culture and Information has made the decision to freeze the activities of Al Jazeera Satellite Channel office in Bahrain after the channel violated professional conventions and did not comply with the laws and regulations of the press, printing and publication law," the ministry said in a brief statement carried by Bahrain News Agency (BNA).
"The temporarily freeze will be lifted after the ministry and the channel agree on a memorandum of understanding that defines their relations in a way that preserves the rights of both parties according to the principle of reciprocity in exercising media activities in both countries," according to the ministry.
Bahrain in May 2002 banned the Doha-based channel from reporting from Bahrain. The information minister said that the ban was imposed because the television station was deliberately seeking to harm Bahrain and that it was biased towards Israel and against Bahrain.
Arab countries that barred the pan-Arab Al Jazeera station include Kuwait, Jordan, Iraq, Morocco and Palestine.
The pan-Arab station was started in 1996 with a loan of QR 500 million ($137 million) and quickly won the hearts and minds of Arabs through a series of unprecedented bold talk shows and an unfamiliar coverage of Arab and world events.
It achieved international fame after the September 11, 2001 attacks on New York and Washington when it was the only channel to cover the war in Afghanistan live from its office in Kabul.
Al Jazeera English was launched in November 2006
