Bahrain Journalists Association (BJA) on Thursday slammed the statement issued by the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) in which it claimed that there was a “widespread intimidation campaign targeting journalists” and that that at least 68 journalists working for two daily newspapers, Al Wasat and Al Bilad, have been sacked or arrested or charged of treason, while others were forced into exile to escape arrest.
In a statement BJA called up IFJ to take into consideration the critical situation the Kingdom is currently witnessing and differentiate between real journalists who abide by the professional ethics of journalism and those who use journalism as a means to serve special agendas that have no relation with the noble mission journalism, indicating that the figure mentioned by IFJ has nothing to do with reality.
“It is surprising that a globally respected and prestigious institution such as IFJ issues a statement based on inaccurate and fabricated information that seems to be taken from some sides that deliberately want to distort reality for specific aims,” said BJA Board Member Mohammed Al Ahmed who affirmed that Bahraini and foreign journalists are doing their job without being censured or monitored by any side and that no journalist has been sued because of his/her professional activities in the Kingdom.
He also asserted that BJA fully supports the freedom of speech in the kingdom and defends liberties, its and the journalism sector’s ultimate goal.
He also said that BJA has contacted the editors-in-chief of the two dailies and those of others as soon as IFJ statement was issued and found that the information mentioned in it were “inaccurate”.
Concerning Al Bilad Editor-in-Chief Moanes Al Mordi, he told BJA that Dar Albilad for Journalism, Publishing & Distribution hasn’t sacked any of its employees during the recent crisis, except according with article 113 of the labour law stipulating that employers have the right to dismiss any worker who “absents himself without reasonable cause for more than twenty day in one year or for more than ten consecutive days, provided that such dismissal shall be preceded by warning in writing by the employer to the worker after an absence of ten days in the former instance and an absence of five days in the latter instance” and that “Al Bilad” has abided by the law in dealing with journalists who failed to carry out their duties during the incidents.
He also said that the names described in an earlier IFJ statement as Al Bilad’s dismissed journalists do not exist, urging IFJ to be more precise.
As to Al Wassat’s Editor-in-Chief Obeidly Al Obeidly, he asserted that his newspaper has not sacked any one.
Other editors-in-Chief of other dailies such as “Al Ayyam” and “Akhbar Al Khaleej” also indicated that they haven’t sacked any of their journalists in the way mentioned by IFJ, adding that they have taken regular legal procedures with violators.