Too close to the truth, Foreign journalists deported as Bahrain

Foreign journalists deported as Bahrain engulfed by pre-F1 protests
20 April, 2013 – RT

Two Bahraini anti-government protesters were injured on Saturday following clashes with police, who used teargas and rubber bullets. Three foreign journalists were deported from the country as F1 is to kick off.

Clashes in Bahrain have continued overnight with two people injured in an attack on police, AFP reports, adding practice sessions for Sunday’s Formula 1 race at the Sakhir circuit in the south were unaffected by the unrest.

Protests and clashes broke out in nearly 20 villages on Friday evening and night, according to Sayed Yousif al-Muhafda from the Bahrain Center for Human Rights.

“The riot police came and attacked them with teargas and shotguns and rubber bullets,” Muhafda said to Reuters.

Government officials have been trying to downplay the scale of violence, describing the overnight clashes as “the normal sort.”

“They are trying to exaggerate for the media before the Formula One race. They are working very hard to show a bad image of Bahrain,” Information Minister Samira Rajab said.

On Friday three journalists working for Britain’s ITV were asked to leave Bahrain. The country’s Information Affairs Authority (IAA) explained the ITV team was deported because it “exercised media activities without obtaining a license from the competent authorities.”

ITV, however, insists its journalists had the media visas necessary to work in the country.

“Our news team were on assignment with visas approved by the Bahraini authorities,” a spokeswoman for ITV News is cited by The Guardian.

Last year, Bahrain denied entry to many journalists, including those representing the media holding rights to broadcast Formula 1 grand prix.

ITV Journalists were expelled on Friday, the same day the US Department of State issued its 2012 country report, pointing at Bahrain’s human rights violations.

“In practice the government limited freedom of speech and press through active prosecution of individuals under libel, slander, and national security laws; firing or attacking civilian and professional journalists; and proposing legislation to limit speech in print and social media,” the report says. …more