A Bahraini court sentenced four journalists on Tuesday to fines of 1,000 Bahraini dinars ($2,650) each for publishing false news during martial law imposed in the Gulf Arab state to crush a pro-democracy protest movement, one of them said. Mansoor al-Jamri, editor-in-chief of al-Wasat, told Reuters by telephone that the three others sentenced were also editors of the independent daily, which is seen by Bahrain's government as a mouthpiece for the Shia Muslim-led opposition.
Jamri was reinstated in August as the daily's editor. The authorities had previously suspended the paper and purged senior staff, prompting Jamri to resign in April. The editors pleaded not guilty during the trial, arguing they were fed disinformation as part of a campaign to discredit al-Wasat, and the short-staffed paper published the mistakes.
Al-Wasat's founder, Karim Fakhrawi, was one of four people who died in police custody during more than two months of martial law. Hundreds of Shias were detained and many more lost their jobs. A commission of international experts is due to make public its findings on the unrest this month.
Bahrain, host to the US Fifth Fleet, faced a wave of anti-government protests in February and March as mostly Shia demonstrators demanded democratic reform. Bahrain's rulers crushed the protests on March 16, saying they were fomented by Shia power Iran, and called in troops from neighbouring Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates to help restore order.
Comments
Comments are closed for this article.