More details have emerged in another "publishing false information" case – this time in Bahrain, where Mansoor al-Jamri, founder/editor of al-Wasat – the kingdom's only independent newspaper – wasforced to resign earlier this month. Since then, al-Wasat's content has become barely distinguishable from that of the government-linked publications and Jamri is expected to face prosecution.

It appears that al-Wasat was the victim of a "sting" operation, probably orchestrated by the authorities, to provide it with false information by email – thus creating a pretext for a legal assualt against the paper.

A report by Human Rights Watch says:

Al-Jamri and his colleagues told Human Rights Watch they examined the alleged false news and photos, and that the six items had been sent as emails from different addresses, but from a single external internet protocol (IP) source, based in a neighbouring country. 

All of the false news items and photos dealt with alleged incidents, such as raids on homes by riot police, that have been frequent and routine in Bahrain since March 15. The emails appeared to have been sent also to other Bahraini newspapers, making them appear more authentic, but with small mistakes in the addresses so that in fact al-Wasat was the only recipient. 

HRW adds:

On April 4, the Information Affairs Authority had separately summoned two Iraqi journalists who had worked for Al Wasat since 2005, Ali al-Sharefi and Rahim al-Ka'bi. Employees at Al Wasat told Human Rights Watch that the officials pressured them to claim that al-Jamri had knowingly fabricated the stories and photos in question. When they insisted otherwise, Bahraini authorities summarily deported them and their families.

Al-Wasat accepts that it did not check the information properly but points out that it was already operating under duress at the time:
Unknown assailants attacked al-Wasat's printing press at about 1 am on March 15, reducing printing capacity. The unstable security situation had also affected operations at al-Wasat's main office, forcing employees to shut down evening operations to prepare the next day's paper, and instead work from their homes. 

"Under normal circumstances, al-Wasat would have some 30 desk editors, reporters, photographers, page-makers, proof-readers, and other supporting staff available to check and process incoming news," al-Jamri told Human Rights Watch. "However, under the emergency situation, staff had to stay away and process the work from their homes."

Normally, HRW says, the Bahraini authorities would seek a correction or retraction when inaccurate information is published. Instead, al-Wasat's alleged transgressions were sensationally exposed in a TV programme. In HRW's view, the authorities' behaviour in this case is "clearly aimed at silencing all critics, not at correcting misinformation". 

It continues: "Since mid-March, the government has methodically targeted and attempted to silence critics of every stripe inside the country. Now they have managed to eliminate Bahrain's only independent mass media outlet."

Posted by Brian Whitaker, 12 April 2011.