ahlam1399
06-05-2017, 04:51 AM
DUBAI: The government in Bahrain an**unced Sunday an indefinite ban on the independent Al-Wasat newspaper on accusations that it publishes "what sows division" in the Gulf kingdom.
The ministry of information affairs said it had decided to bar the publication and stop its circulation "until further **tice", according BNA state news agency, without specifying if the ban affects the electronic edition.
The order was due to Al-Wasat’s "violation of the law and repeatedly publishing what sows division in the society and affects Bahrain’s relations with other states," BNA said.
The decision came after the paper published an article on Sunday that was "offensive to a sisterly Arab state," BNA said, in an apparent reference to an article that praised protests in Morocco.
The London-based Bahrain Institute for Rights and Democracy criticised the decision, saying it was "the latest in an escalated *****down on independent civil society".
"They are trying to silence the only independent paper," BIRD’s advocacy chief Sayed Ahmed Alwadaei said in a statement.
"Bahrain feels it can get away with any action because its key international allies the US and UK have shown they don’t prioritise human rights. This attack on the press must be condemned by London and Washington," he added.
BIRD said an unnamed source at the newspaper said Al-Wasat was suspended due to the publication of an "opinion article" about widespread protests in Morocco.
Demonstrations and a strike have rocked the **rthern port of Al-Hoceima, in Morocco’s neglected Rif region, where authorities arrested the leader of a popular protest movement and others on May 26.
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The ministry of information affairs said it had decided to bar the publication and stop its circulation "until further **tice", according BNA state news agency, without specifying if the ban affects the electronic edition.
The order was due to Al-Wasat’s "violation of the law and repeatedly publishing what sows division in the society and affects Bahrain’s relations with other states," BNA said.
The decision came after the paper published an article on Sunday that was "offensive to a sisterly Arab state," BNA said, in an apparent reference to an article that praised protests in Morocco.
The London-based Bahrain Institute for Rights and Democracy criticised the decision, saying it was "the latest in an escalated *****down on independent civil society".
"They are trying to silence the only independent paper," BIRD’s advocacy chief Sayed Ahmed Alwadaei said in a statement.
"Bahrain feels it can get away with any action because its key international allies the US and UK have shown they don’t prioritise human rights. This attack on the press must be condemned by London and Washington," he added.
BIRD said an unnamed source at the newspaper said Al-Wasat was suspended due to the publication of an "opinion article" about widespread protests in Morocco.
Demonstrations and a strike have rocked the **rthern port of Al-Hoceima, in Morocco’s neglected Rif region, where authorities arrested the leader of a popular protest movement and others on May 26.
http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/World-TheNewsInternational/~4/FNdiskOb6vM
أكثر... (http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/World-TheNewsInternational/~3/FNdiskOb6vM/208679-Bahrain-bans-newspaper-for-sowing-division)