MANAMA: The US Secretary of State John Kerry, who held talks with Bahrain’s Minister for Foreign Affairs, Shaikh Khalid, during a Press Conference assured the Bahrain media that he would look into to security staff alleged highhandedness prior to the Press conference at the Four Seasons Hotel Bahrain Bay on Thursday.
“I am not aware about any US security on the ground but I will definitely look in to the matter,” John Kerry assured the local media when one of the reporters told him that the attitude of his security staff was uncouth and against the norms.
Bahrain’s Foreign Minister said he would also look into the matter personally. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs Bahrain had invited the accredited media and were given the special badges to cover the joint Press conference of the US Secretary of State and Bahrain’s Foreign Minister at the end of the bilateral talks.
The local media was kept almost three and half hours in a small room without basic amenities like tea or coffee or washroom facilities before allowing them to go to the venue of the Press conference. Apparently, a US security personnel wearing jeans ordered all local media to leave their camera equipment and iPad etc., on the ground and walk away in a close passage one by one as if they were detainees and are brought for a court hearing.
Also the same security officials, not Bahraini, had segregated the US media and the Arab media and ordered that Arab media remained in the small room till further orders.
It may be recalled that Bahrain media was also thrown out of the GCC Finance Ministers Conference venue by the Ministry of Interior cops on the opening day of the conference at The Rotana Hotel.
The laws in Bahrain allow the media free movement and access to the officials but sometime security officials tried to take the role of the media in their hands without any nod from the top.