Gulf | Bahrain
Suspension of Bahrain's oldest newspaper lifted 12 hours after imposed
A suspension of Bahrain's oldest newspaper in circulation, Akhbar Al Khaleej, was lifted 12 hours after it was imposed, allowing the publication to print on Tuesday.
- By Habib Toumi, Bahrain Bureau Chief
- Published: 15:33 June 22, 2009
Manama: A suspension of Bahrain's oldest newspaper in circulation, Akhbar Al Khaleej, was lifted 12 hours after it was imposed, allowing the publication to print on Tuesday.
"The competent authorities have directed the publication of the newspaper on Tuesday," Bahrain News Agency (BNA) said in a brief statement on Monday afternoon.
No reason or explanation was given by the official news agency for the suspension announced at around 1:52 am on Tuesday and for its lifting, 12 hours later.
According to the BNA report announcing the suspension, the action against the newspaper, conveyed to Akhbar Al Khaleej's chairman and editor in chief Anwar Abdul Rahman shortly before its printing, was related to the 2002 Press and Publications Law.
The online edition of the issue was not posted.
Sources told Gulf News that the suspension of the newspaper was caused by the publication on Sunday of an op-ed by Sameera Rajab, a regular columnist with the pan-Arabist newspaper, in which she attacked the Iranian regime and its supporters.
In her 1,168-word piece titled "Islamic Republic - Popular Fury", Sameera wrote that Iran's leaders have often considered themselves as God's representatives on Earth and as saints ruling over a saint republic.
"However, the real Islamic Republic of Iran is today fully exposed to the world after the ruling elite have crossed their limits in their lies, deception, egoism and conflicts to serve their interests… In the largest forged elections, the fathers of the Islamic revolution in Iran have revealed their true identity," she wrote before launching personal attacks against President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
Journalists and the press are banned, according to Article 70 of the 2002 Press Law, from publishing articles attacking "the king or president of an Arab or Islamic country, or any other country that has diplomatic relations with Bahrain."
Bahrain Journalists Association protested the suspension, expressing solidarity with the newspaper and urging the information ministry to reconsider its decision.
"The suspension of Akhbar Al Khaleej undermines the freedom of expression that all journalists in Bahrain seek to consolidate with the publication of the new Press law," the association, an umbrella for 350 Bahrain-based journalists, said.
In June and July 2005, hundreds of angry Shiites staged a rally in front of the offices of Al Ayam, a liberal daily, to protest against the publication of a cartoon that appeared to claim that Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei had a direct role in the results of the Iranian elections that brought Ahmadinejad to power.
Carrying pictures of Khamenei, the protestors demanded that King Hamad Bin Eisa Al Khalifa intervene to put an end to what they described as attempts to stoke up sectarianism in the community.
The High Scholars Council, a body of top Shiite leaders in Bahrain, called for three-month long boycott of the newspaper.
Bahrain last week congratulated Ahamdinejad on his re-election, and the official media has refrained from making any comments on the recent developments in Iran.
Manama has been keen on consolidating its political and economic relations with Tehran despite the sporadic tension caused by Iranian hardliners' claims against Bahrain's sovereignty and independence.
However, the tension was always defused through direct talks between senior officials from both countries in which the Iranians distanced themselves from the claims, saying that they did not reflect their position.
Al Dar, a Kuwaiti newsportal, on Sunday quoted senior Iranian sources, without naming them, as saying that the Iranians would take action against the Arab and international countries that intervened in Iran's domestic affairs.
"The Iranian leadership is now focused on achieving stability in the country. However, after it finishes the legal and constitutional tackling of the internal movements, the Iranian leaders will not remain silent towards the Arab and international entities that intervened in Iran's domestic affairs by pouring in huge amounts of dollars or by expanding conflicts to undermine the system," the sources said. "These sides should have spent billions of dollars to expand democracy in their countries, reduce poverty, invigorate their economies and address the issues of depravation and sleaze that now characterize them."
On Sunday, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said that western countries should keep away from Iran's domestic issues.
"Definitely, you would not be placed inside Iranians' circle of friendship with such hasty comments. Thus I recommend you to rectify your interventionist stances," he said.
In a speech to foreign diplomats in Tehran, Iran's Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki was "highly critical of some Western countries, specifically France, Germany, Britain and the US, for their inappropriate, illogical and interfering words."
Mottaki on Sunday also criticised some foreign media outlets and television channels for beating "the drums of war" in their reports of Iran's post-election disputes.
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