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Sorry - this page has been removed. Bahrain says Alarab channel suspended for not fighting extremism
(4 months later)
This could be because it launched early, our rights have expired, there was a legal issue, or for another reason. Bahrain has suspended the operation of a new satellite news channel owned by a Saudi prince shortly after its launch because it had not done enough to combat “extremism and terrorism”.
Bahrain’s statement, carried by state media on Monday, was the first official comment since the new Alarab channel was shut down on its first day of broadcasting after it interviewed a Bahraini opposition politician.
For further information, please contact: Bahrain’s information affairs authority (IAA) said Alarab, which is owned by the billionaire Saudi prince Alwaleed bin Talal, a nephew of King Salman, had not obtained the licence it needed to start broadcasting from the country.
Alarab said on Sunday that it had stopped broadcasting for technical reasons.
The IAA statement also accused Alarab of failing “to match the standards of regional and international practice agreements, to take account of efforts aimed at stemming the tide of extremism and terrorism throughout the region and the world”.
During its brief time on air, the channel carried an interview with Khalil al-Marzouq, a senior figure in Bahrain’s main Shia opposition movement, al-Wefaq, but the IAA denied any intention to quash free expression.
“The IAA stresses that the decision [to shut Alarab] has no impact upon principles of media freedom and is strictly based on the government’s commitment to ensuring the diversity and impartiality of media outlets in the kingdom,” it said.
Bahrain has held al-Wefaq’s leader, Sheikh Ali Salman, since December on charges of promoting regime change by force, an accusation he denies. Al-Wefaq boycotted a parliamentary election last year partly because it said voting districts favoured minority Sunnis in the Shia-majority kingdom.
Bahrain’s Sunni ruling dynasty has close security and political ties with Saudi Arabia. Both accuse Iran, their Shia regional rival, of backing Bahrain’s political opposition, a charge Tehran denies.
Although Alwaleed is a prominent member of the ruling Al Saud dynasty, his outspoken views on social and political issues do not reflect official Saudi thinking.
Saudi Arabia sent troops to support Bahrain’s security forces in 2011 when they put down a popular uprising by mainly Shia protesters.
Speaking in 2012 following Arab spring revolts against autocratic rulers in some Arab countries, Alwaleed told CNN that his planned channel was an attempt to fill “an opening for a more pragmatic and logical channel that really takes the centre’s point of view”.