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Manama: Bahrain Journalists Association (BJA) officials yesterday said they did not have much hope that the new press law abolishing prison terms for journalists would be approved by the lower house.
"I certainly hope that I am wrong, but I do not think that the new law would be passed by the Council of Representatives where conservative Islamists dominate," BJA chairman Eisa Al Shayji told Gulf News.
"We were heartened by the statement of Jihad Bu Kamal, the information minister on January 31 about the abolition of prison terms in the new law to be submitted by the government, but I am concerned that the MPs would not endorse it," he said.
Closures
The BJA, an occupational umbrella for around 300 Bahrain-based journalists, has been lobbying for the promulgation of a new press law that would supplant the 2002 code and scrap Article 47 which mandates prison terms or closure of publications for slighting the Islamic faith or the unity of the people.
However, its efforts have been resisted by the MPs who claimed that the journalists could not be given preferential treatment over other citizens.
The government last year said that it would submit a new draft law to the lower house, months after the Shura Council endorsed another law drafted by MP Ebrahim Bashmi.
The government's law will however have the priority at the lower house where Sunni and Shiite Islamists have 31 of the 40 seats.
"The problem is that many of these MPs want to maintain the prison terms because they are concerned that journalists would be openly critical of their attitudes and performance in the parliament," Al Shayji said.
Adel Marzouq, the BJA deputy chairman, believed that winning the support of the MPs would be a formidable task.
"Despite calls by King Hamad to have an enlightened and modern press law, we still have those who claim that scrapping prison terms means giving journalists a preferential treatment that they do not deserve," Marzouq said.
"The problem is that many of these MPs want to maintain the prison terms because they are concerned that journalists would be openly critical of their attitudes and performance in the parliament," added Eisa Al Shayji, BJA Chairman.
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