Media sends ‘open’ letter to judiciary
Don’t let the foreign press misinterpret the Al Bandar issue by asking us to be silent
Your Honours, members of the Supreme Judiciary Council,
We, the Editors in chief of the daily newspapers address this open letter to you so that we can together agree on drawing the principled policies of safeguarding the right of our Press to exercise its legitimate role in engaging in the freedom of speech, which is an indivisible part of the rights of Bahrain — the homeland and the citizen — and is an important and vital pillar in increasing awareness and developing Bahraini culture so as to understand and appreciate the issues of the homeland with a sense of high national responsibility.
Media sends ‘open’ letter to judiciary
Don’t let the foreign press misinterpret the Al Bandar issue by asking us to be silent
Your Honours, members of the Supreme Judiciary Council,
We, the Editors in chief of the daily newspapers address this open letter to you so that we can together agree on drawing the principled policies of safeguarding the right of our Press to exercise its legitimate role in engaging in the freedom of speech, which is an indivisible part of the rights of Bahrain — the homeland and the citizen — and is an important and vital pillar in increasing awareness and developing Bahraini culture so as to understand and appreciate the issues of the homeland with a sense of high national responsibility.
We begin our letter by expressing to you our understanding of and appreciation for the role of the esteemed High Criminal Court in making the decision to ban publishing in the Al-Bandar case which has recently become a criminal case that is being considered by the court. We read the decision in the newspapers on 5 October 2006, but to this day the managements of our newspapers have not received a written copy of it in our capacity as the principal party concerned with its implementation.
However, now that the case has become a public opinion issue our press has specific obligations towards that issue as in all other public opinion issues, and after the media abroad have begun to report on the case as is their wont in all topical and sensational cases, we believe that the decision of the High Criminal Court to ban our Press from reporting on the case morally harms society, the Bahraini Press, and the homeland in general.
Following the decision to ban publication, information on the case is being reported in all the media we mentioned, without ascertaining their veracity through the local press which is concerned with the affairs of the media and the homeland, and whose duty is to direct that information towards their sound national and security channels, thus driving the said media to derive their information from — and to rely in their reporting on — irresponsible media, information, and communications sources, which is likely to inflict a great harm on the case and on society as well, and bring about all the dangers which the High Criminal Court is trying to avert by its decision to ban publication, and without the esteemed court and the entire judiciary being able to monitor, prevent, or question those media or their sources.
Proceeding from this premise, and in order to safeguard the safety and security of the homeland and society, and in order to consolidate the national role of the Press as the fourth estate in society, and in order to entrench the principle of the freedom of responsible and committed speech, and in support of exercising our national role through our Press and media establishments in a manner that benefits the sound progress of the case in the courts, we address this open letter to your Council in the hope that you will reconsider the abovementioned judicial ruling, so as to achieve the public interest in this case in all its aspects.
We hope that your judgment in the matter will be decisive in safeguarding the rights of all the parties, so that it constitutes a positive precedent in the judiciary’s support for the authority of the media in Bahrain, and in order that we will all be moved to shoulder our responsibilities and carry out our national duties which are no less important than the duty of defending the homeland on the battlefronts.
Your Honours,
When the judiciary, which is the biggest independent authority in the country, acts equitably towards — and understands and supports — the rights of the press in carrying out its national role which is prescribed in the Constitution and laws of the Kingdom of Bahrain, that will have a great effect on building an independent Bahraini media that is committed to protecting the nation’s security and interests, a media that works in unison with you and with all the other apparatuses and authorities in order to advance the reform process and make it progress towards its great goals.
As we work with sincerity and dedication to build the edifice of Bahraini media through our newspapers, we have set before us only Bahrain, the homeland we seek to advance and to raise its standing so that it remains prosperous and a safe haven for us, our children and grandchildren in all ages and times.
Respectfully yours,
Editor in Chief
Bahrain Tribune.
Article from: Bahrain Tribune Newspaper- www.BahrainTribune.com
