Dubai: Bahraini daily Al Wasat hit the stands again on Sunday after the Information Affairs Authority (IAA) lifted its suspension.
“The resumption of the newspaper’s operations follows discussions between the IAA and the newspaper’s management team to rectify past legal and regulatory failings, and a commitment from the newspaper to meet the necessary standards in future,” the IAA said in a statement carried by Bahrain News Agency (BNA).
The IAA said its decision on Thursday to temporarily suspend Al Wasat was taken after “a lengthy process of warnings and meetings between the paper and the regulator failed to resolve the publication’s legal and regulatory non-compliance.”
“These consisted of the repeated publication of material which sought to undermine national unity as well as Bahrain’s relationship with other countries,” the IAA said.
“Bahrain’s constitution guarantees media and journalists the right to perform their duties freely and independently. The IAA calls on publications and media organisations to continue to carry out their activities responsibly and within the guidelines and laws of the Kingdom.”
On Saturday, the IAA said that reports by some international media outlets and external organisations, inaccurately claimed Al Wasat newspaper was the only independently-run newspaper in the Kingdom were erroneous.
“This is categorically untrue. All newsprint titles currently published in the Kingdom are both independently owned and managed,” the IAA said.
Al Wasat, one of the five dailies in Arabic in Bahrain, was published in 2002 first published in 2002 following the launch of political and constitutional reforms by King Hamad Bin Eisa Al Khalifa who came to power in March 1999 upon the death of his father.
