Manama — Bahrain’s Ministry of Interior on Friday lambasted Qatar’s Al-Jazeera channel for spreading fake news against the Kingdom. The Ministry chastised Al-Jazeera for its lack of professionalism and media credibility.
Qatar’s Al-Jazeera published a report that alleged that the attacker of a religious Shiite site in Shiraz Iran was a Bahraini national.
In a serious-toned tweet thread, Ministry said, “MOI asserts that the defaming and inciting campaigns against Bahrain and its citizens through the Qatari Al Jazeera Channel come within a systematic framework that lacks professionalism and media credibility. MOI highlights the following:”.
“First: The report posted on Al Jazeera Channel website that the attacker of a religious site in Shiraz in Iran is a Bahraini national is baseless”, it added. “Second: The media’s credibility and professionalism go against the years-long approach of the channel against the Kingdom of Bahrain. Therefore, the information should be denied immediately, considering that the Iranian local authorities have denied the report”.
In its third tweet, the Ministry demanded Al-Jazeera to publish the response in order to correct its report “out of the principle of the right of reply and the clarification of the facts”.
Al Jazeera, which continues to receive political and financial support from the government of Qatar, was established in 1996 as part of Qatari ambitions to transform economic power into political influence in the Arab world and beyond.
As a result, Al Jazeera has come under fire for being Qatar’s official media outlet. 2010 diplomatic cables leaked by WikiLeaks revealed internal discussions from the U.S. State Department that claimed Qatar’s government slants Al Jazeera coverage to serve its political objectives.
According to the Political Scientist Walid Phares, Al Jazeera allegedly developed into the Muslim Brotherhood’s “main ideological and communication network”, during the 2011 Arab Spring in Tunisia, Egypt, Libya, Yemen, and Syria.
Phares stated that Al Jazeera had a “tremendous role” in assisting Islamist components of the revolution after democratic forces had started the uprisings.
