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Bahrain’s opposition paper accused of fabricating reports

03 April 2011 02:12 (UTC +04:00)

Baku-APA. Bahrain’s only opposition paper was accused of plagiarism and fabricating reports of political unrest in a state TV program about role played by local media, APA reports quoting Xinhua.

Chief editors of local Arabic daily on Saturday participated in the live debate on Bahrain Television with the exception of Al Wasat editor-in-chief, Mansoor Al Jamri.

During the debate, the presenter released a set of documents stating that Al Wasat, the widely circulated daily in Bahrain, copied stories and photographs from Palestinians territory, Saudi Arabia, Morocco and other states, which were portrayed as events occurring in Bahrain.

The presenter said the source of these reports was from a journalist working with Al Wasat newspaper, who leaked the set of documents to officials on conditions of anonymity.

The list of documents obtained by Xinhua also mentions a letter by the Central Informatics Organization (CIO), the main statistical body in the country.

It states in the letter issued on March 31 that the names of two people mentioned in the news report actually did not exist in Bahrain as per their records.

There was no official announcement by Bahrain authorities whether it would shut down the newspaper for violating laws or take action against its staff.

On March 15, the newspaper’s office was allegedly attacked by mobs carrying knives and clubs. The attack took place after it published reports highlighting oppositional views about the unrest in the county.

The staff and journalists claimed that some pro-government supporters were behind the attack.