National Dialogue agreements to protect Journalists prove lies as Harsh Sentences Enforced

Bahrain’s national dialogue agrees to protect journalists
July 20, 2011 – People’s Daily

Bahrain’s national dialogue on Tuesday resulted in a key consensus on forming a supreme council for journalists to protect their rights in the kingdom.

The council, which was approved in a human rights session of the dialogue, would regulate and license journalists in the country.

“The council would have an appointed judge and members from the Bahrain Journalists Association and Bahrain Bar Society. They would deal with cases filed against journalists to ensure they are not imprisoned,” Mohammed Ahmed, who is representing the Bahrain Journalists Association in the national dialogue, told Xinhua.

Ahmed said journalists should not be jailed for carrying out their jobs and maintaining high professional standards and ethics.

Spokesman of the dialogue Isa Abdulrahman said at a press conference after the sessions that the participants also agreed to regulate the on-line media and no newspaper should be shut down without a court order.

He said over 250 people attended Tuesday’s sessions with consensus reached on several issues.

Bahrain’s largest opposition group Al Wefaq National Islamic Society did not attend the talks on Tuesday. It submitted its reservations about the dialogue process and justified its absence to the organizers of the national dialogue.

Al Wefaq spokesman Khalil Al Marzooq said the party tried to present serious political solutions to Bahrain’s recent unrest, but were ignored by the government.

Al Wefaq also complained that the opposition parties, which were allocated about 35 of the 300 seats, were underrepresented in the dialogue.

In response to the complaint, Chairman of the national dialogue Khalifa Al Dhahrani said Monday that the dialogue “does not represent the government or the opposition, but aims to represent the views of people from all walks of our society.”

The chairman underlined that the dialogue adheres to an international standards for achieving consensus.

“Participants must not pre-empt the outcome of the dialogue process but stay the course, put aside their differences and work constructively towards achieving a consensus,” Dhahrani said.

The national dialogue, which focuses on areas of politics, economy, social issues and human rights, was called by the Bahraini leadership last month and aims to bring together various segments of the Bahraini society to present the people’s views and demands for further reforms in the country.

Over 300 participants from political societies, human rights groups, women groups, nongovernmental organizations, unions, religious academies and expatriate groups are taking part in the high-level talks. …source