Extremist voices need silencing, says journalist
http://archive.gulfnews.com/articles/07/02/08/10102681.html
02/08/2007 08:32 PM | By Habib Toumi, Bureau Chief
Manama: A Bahraini journalist who was verbally abused by disgruntled Shiites for covering the condolences offered at a pro-Baath society on the death of Iraqi former leader Saddam Hussain has called for strong action to put an end to the extremism creeping into Bahrain.
“We need to silence all the extremist voices seeking to terrorise and silence journalists for doing their job and for standing against sectarian divisions,” Makki Hassan, a veteran Shiite journalist working for Akhbar Al Khaleej, said yesterday in a statement carried by his newspaper.
Extremist voices need silencing, says journalist
http://archive.gulfnews.com/articles/07/02/08/10102681.html
02/08/2007 08:32 PM | By Habib Toumi, Bureau Chief
Manama: A Bahraini journalist who was verbally abused by disgruntled Shiites for covering the condolences offered at a pro-Baath society on the death of Iraqi former leader Saddam Hussain has called for strong action to put an end to the extremism creeping into Bahrain.
“We need to silence all the extremist voices seeking to terrorise and silence journalists for doing their job and for standing against sectarian divisions,” Makki Hassan, a veteran Shiite journalist working for Akhbar Al Khaleej, said yesterday in a statement carried by his newspaper.
The journalist was last month assigned by his newspaper to cover the condolences house set up by the National Rally Society on Saddam’s death.
The society came under heavy criticism from several religious figures for its condolences offer and its premises were firebombed by angry people who said the execution of Saddam should be celebrated, not mourned. It was the first such attack on a political society in Bahrain.
Hassan said that the verbal assault happened last week at a maatam, or community centre, in Sitra, a Shiite village 10 kilometres south of the capital, Manama.
“I was sitting at the maatam when someone whom I know very well approached me and started asking me questions about my presence last month at the condolences house. Although I explained that I was on assignment, he told me that I had no reason to be there and shouted that I was no longer welcome in the community,” he said in the statement.
The assailant was then joined by a group of angry people, including a taxi driver who allegedly accused Hassan of being a liar and a fraud, and issued veiled threats.
“You are a pro-Baath agent and all Baathists should be killed and executed because they are the enemy of religion,” the driver was quoted as saying.
Hassan, who covers political and business stories, was asked to leave the community centre. He was also expelled from a nearby café where he wanted to drink tea.
“I was shocked by the antagonistic behaviour of some people against me for doing my job. Their extremism is such that they have damaged the windshields of my brother’s car and are now threatening to burn down his house in Sitra. This is totally unacceptable and there should be an end to this harassment of journalists,” Hassan said.