Manama: Bahrain’s state minister for information said that she was looking forward to cooperating with an investigation panel set up by the parliament to look into a fire that had broken out at a studio office.
“I have called for setting up an investigation committee and I will extend the highest levels of cooperation with its members,” Sameera Ebrahim Bin Rajab said. “I have demanded the establishment of the committee and I ask you to assume your patriotic responsibility to find out the truth in the accusations leveled by a daily newspaper against an official establishment and in the responsibilities in the studio fire. The nation will not forgive you if you do not reveal the truth,” the minister told the parliament on Tuesday as its members debated the merit of setting the investigation panel.
Local daily Al Ayam waded into a standoff with the minister last month when it published a report claiming that a fire that had broken out at a facility within the compound of the information ministry in Isa Town had not been properly investigated.
The daily, using information circulated on social networks, said that a company tasked with launching a new television channel was using the studio and added that one of the people in charge had links with Al Manar, the TV station for Lebanese militia Hezbollah.
The minister has denied the charges and insisted that the fire was at a vacant office where maintenance work was under way. She denied any links between the company and Al Manar or other foreign groups and said that the newspaper had lacked credibility in its report.
“One of the pillars of the modern state in Bahrain today is democracy, and even ahead of this foundation, we as Muslims are well aware of the significance of the values of justice and democracy,” she said.
Whenever people hear a story, they should make sure that they are certain about its credibility before they make any judgement, she said. “Until this moment, I have not received a single call form a lawmaker or a journalist about the fire report carried by the daily,” she said.
“The newspaper said that I was exerting pressure to ensure there is no investigation and I here demand that a probe team is formed to look into the allegations and I am ready to cooperate with its members to the fullest levels,” she said.
The parliament said it would form the committee and would agree on the names of its members at its next session on Tuesday. Sameera is one of three women in the government, the other two being Shaikha Mai Bint Mohammad Al Khalifa, the minister of culture and former information minister, and Fatima Al Belushi, the minister for social development.
