Manama: A draft law that stipulates only non-custodial sentences for journalists or professional members of the media in Bahrain has been approved by the government.

Under the bill, there are no jail terms for journalists or people working in the fields of the media and communication, while penalties, to be decided by courts and not administrative assessments, will include fines and bans, the cabinet, chaired by Prime Minister Prince Khalifa Bin Salman Al Khalifa, agreed on Sunday.

“This law is a quantum leap for freedom of information and communication that meets the ambitions to develop the media landscape in its various fields,” the cabinet said. “Its benefits and advantages for journalists and members of the media once it is implemented go well beyond the recommendations by the Bahrain Independent Commission of Inquiry (BICI).

The BICI, an international panel of rights experts, was set up by King Hamad Bin Eisa Al Khalifa in June 2011, to look into the dramatic events that occurred in February and March in Bahrain.

The commission, after five months of field work and thousands of interviews, issued a report that included a series of recommendations to ensure the dramatic events are not repeated.

It called for greater tolerance in the media, especially on social media where “the sharing of information may be liberating, but exaggeration and even misinformation disseminated through social media may inflame reactions to events and even provoke violence.”

The bill approved by the government stipulates not holding journalists accountable for their opinions or correct information issued in good faith.

Members of the media will not be obliged to disclose their source of information unless withholding it constitutes a direct threat to public order, the law that covers the print, audio-visual and electronic media, said.

Under the draft, the Supreme Authority for Media and Communication imposes penalties on licensees in the event of violating the provisions of this law or the code of ethics in the media, including written warnings, the provisional revocation of the license and financial sanctions.

Following the approval from the cabinet, the draft has been referred, as required by the constitution, to the bicameral parliament where it be reviewed by the lower and upper chambers in separate sessions.

King Hamad Bin Eisa Al Khalifa has often called for the adoption of a progressive press law to supplant the controversial 2002 law.

Endeavours to improve living standards and bolster the national economy “must be accompanied by progressive laws that guarantee the independence of the press and the freedom of honest and responsible expression,” King Hamad said in an address to the parliament.

“We consider them the guarantors of democracy and we regard independent media as our partner in the nation-building process,” he said.

Despite heavy lobbying by the Bahrain Journalists Association (BJA) since mid-2000 for a new law, the lower chamber of the bicameral parliament has consistently hesitated to amend the 2002 law, mainly as Islamist MPs have refused to “extend privileges to the members of the media” and insisted on including a clause to imprison journalists.