Bahrain 2016; Reuters and French Channel/Radio without correspondents
Bahrain Press Association, London, 20th November, 2016 – The media and information Affairs Authority pursued its crack down on independent media in multiple formats, especially the foreign ones that do not waver or hesitate in naming the violations or crack down on political scene, human rights work and freedom of expression. It is this systematic policy that forbade journalists from entering the country under the argument that the time is not suitable now, or because of not providing the necessary paperwork to obtain a media visa, or for reasons that are not presented to the applicants, including the lack of license for new correspondents working for these foreign entities or cooperating with them without gaining a permission from the Authority.
However, this approach was developed during this year to include the non-renewal of licenses for accredited correspondents who are inside the country and some of whom have worked in their position for many years, in order to stop their work and even prosecute some on charges of working without a license.
This new move began when the license of Reem Khalifa and Hassan Jamali;a journalist and photojournalist of Associated Press was not renewed at the beginning of the year, without giving reasons, while Jamali has been working with the agency for nearly 25 years, Khalifa has been working as a journalist with them for several years.
The same applied to Radio Monte Carlo International and France 24 station’s journalist Nazeeha Saeed, who has been reporting for both for more than 12 years, IAA Media claimed in its letter to Saeed that the reasons of non-renewal are “her performance is below satisfactory level with respect to her coverage of events and her tasks as a reporter in general”, once again the Bahraini authorities prevented Saeed from traveling later on after the non-renewal of the license, she was also surprised with a summon to appear before an investigation by the public Prosecution on the 17th of July of last year.
Head of prosecution Hussein Sairafi charged Saeed with working without a license after several complains made by the Information Affairs Authority against the correspondent since April and until July, by which time Saeed was waiting for an answer from the IAA on license renewal submitted on the 30th of of March as a routine procedure that she does each year and the IAA should have not accept or reject the renewal, it was no more than a normal act.
Looking closely at the animosity, the IAA issued on the same day a statement accusing Saeed with “pretended to be a reporter with foreign media outlets, without obtaining official accreditation from the ministry in the explicit provisions of Article «88» in violation of the Decree-Law No.«47» of the year 2002 on the regulation of the press, printing and publishing. “
The statement also accused Saeed that she “claimed to be a reporter for more than one outlet and foreign media to carry out her activities without regard for the rule of law, despite that she has exceeded the expiry date her license as a correspondent.”
Last but not least the statement also said that Saeed ” consistently exploited the atmosphere of democratic and media openness by working illegally, which is contrary to the most basic professional rules in media work that imposes the need to respect the law and constitutional institutions.”
Last September the IAA also informed photojournalist Mohammed Al Sheikh, who has been working for Agence France-Presse for more than five years, about the refusal of renewing his license, citing that Sheikh “does not meet the professional set by the ministry’s standards”, the same message was received by the photojournalist Aamer Mohammed who works for the Reuters news agency in September, also ending his work with the agency.
Note that the IAA usually encourages independent media organisations to nominate another person to represent them in Bahrain, and it provides specific names for them to work with these institutions in flagrant interference of the work of these independent institutions who refuse working with the nominated names by IAA; which are usually journalists working in the same ministry or in the Bahraini press pro-authority institutions.
It’s worth mentioning that neither AFP nor Reuters have correspondents in Bahrain, after the ministry had refused several names nominated by the two agencies for this position in Bahrain and obstructing the work of these two agencies for more than four years.
The IAA is using the text of the article «88» of the Press Law, which prohibits the correspondents of foreign media to exercise their work without obtaining a license from the ministry, against reporters, journalists who report to channels or independent foreign media, although it confirms its commitment to ensure freedom of “responsible” opinion and expression is in the press and media field, and freedom of news and information flow without boundaries “but” within the legal regulations and professional and ethical standards, that meets with the covenants and conventions and international human rights.