The Bahrain Institute for Rights and Democracy (BIRD), Index on Censorship, and Reporters without Borders have sent an open letter to United Kingdom’s foreign secretary Boris Johnson raising concerns about recent statements and records on press freedom of Bahrain’s ambassador to the UK, Sheikh Fawaz bin Mohammad Al Khalifa, a member of Bahrain’s royal family. Between 2010 – 2012, he was president of Bahrain’s information affairs authority (IAA), the state’s media regulator and operator of Bahrain TV and the public news agency.
The letter argues that while he was head of the IAA, Fawaz used his power to restrict press freedom, coinciding with the systematic crackdown on political and civil freedoms by the Bahraini government.
In the letter foreign secretary Johnson is urged to take up the matter with the Bahraini ambassador.
Read the full letter here.