Attacks on free press 'will affect interests of state'

Manama: A senior Arab media watchdog official yesterday warned against the escalation of violent acts against journalists in Arab countries, saying that the phenomenon would be detrimental to state and professional interests.

"We have noted a dreadful escalation in the number of acts of violence against journalists in several Arab countries where there is talk of freedom of expression and opinion," Arab Journalists Union secretary-general Salahuddeen Hafed said in a solidarity statement to the Bahrain Journalists Association.

"This intensification of acts against journalists will definitely hurt the interests of both the states and the media personnel," he said.

Claims rejected

Hafed called on Arab journalists to support Al Ayam's editor-in-chief Eisa Al Shaygi, who had received threatening messages after he openly criticised deputies from Al Menbar Islamic Society for their attempt to re-impose pre-censorship and prison terms for journalists in the press law draft being debated by the Council of Representatives.

Al Menbar, affiliated with the Muslim Brotherhood, said that there was a need to exercise legal control over columnists who disparaged Islam or insulted God. The society complained that "some columnists have been openly anti-Islam and repeatedly attacked people who defended the faith and promoted Islamic precepts." It singled out Al Ayam newspaper columnists for "deriding Muslim scholars."

Al Shaygi who also heads the Bahrain Journalists Association rejected the claims as untrue and said that they were part of a scheme to discredit liberals and impose Al Menbar's perspective.

"Journalists are under siege and we need to work together to ensure that freedom of speech is not threatened by forces of darkness," Al Shaygi yesterday told Gulf News.

"We are fully aware of the schemes being plotted against journalists and writers and we shall reveal them in due time," he said without elaborating.

The International Federation of Journalists earlier this week expressed in a statement support to Al Shaygi and urged the Bahraini authorities to help put an end to the campaign targeting freedom of expression and the liberal press.