Akhbar Al Khaleej

History and profile

The first issue of Akhbar Al Khaleej was published on 1 February 1976. It is one of the Bahrain's oldest daily papers. Ali Sayyar, a veteran Bahraini journalist, had a column in the paper.

As of 2006 Anwar Abdul Rahman was the head of the paper. The publisher is Dar Al Hilal which also publishes Gulf Daily News.

The daily is published in broadsheet format. The 1998 circulation of the daily was 25,000 copies

Political position

The paper is known to be close to Bahrain's main leftist opposition party, National Democratic Action and its columnists include some of the country's most prominent leftists such as Sameera Rajab and Mahmood Al Gassab, who is a leading member of the Jami'at al-Tajammu' al-Qawmi al-Dimuqrat, one of the four opposition societies to the government.

With its Arab nationalist stance, the newspaper has led condemnation of the United States' invasion of Iraq, and has been particularly critical of those Iraqis who have cooperated with the American backed political order: Samira Rajab in 2005 dismissed Iraqi Shia cleric Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani as an 'American general'. This resulted in death threats towards Ms Rajab from Shia Islamists — who hold the Iraqi cleric in high regard — and brought to the surface political fissures in the alliance of Shia Islamists and ex-Marxists that had come together to oppose the 2002 Constitution.

Juan Cole on his Informed Comment website discussed the issue:

On the other hand, the paper is considered to be pro-government.

Controversy

In June 2009, the Ministry of Culture of Bahrain ordered that Akhbar Al Khaleej suspend publication for violating press laws; local sources alleged that it was a response to an article by Samira Rajab, which had attacked Ayatollah Ali Khamenei's regime in light of the Iranian presidential election and related protests.

References

References

1. "Bahrain". Arab Press Network.
2. "About IAA". Information Affairs Authority.
3. Abdallah Shalaby. (2010). "Towards a Better Life: How to Improve the State of Democracy in the Middle East and North Africa". GPoT.
4. Omran Salman. (2 November 2006). "Dissent and Reform in Bahrain: Challenging Government Control of Media". American Enterprise Institute.
5. (9 October 2019). "Veteran Bahraini journalist Ali Sayyar mourned". GDN Life.
6. (July–December 2010). "Arab media review. Anti-semitism and other trends". Anti-Defamation League.
7. "USFG featured in Akhbar Al Khaleej, Bahrain on 16 June 1998". Mir Mohammad Alikhan.
8. (2014). "Clients". Hill and Knowlton Strategies.
9. [http://www.juancole.com/2005/02/present-conflicts-looming-conflicts.html Present conflict looming conflicts] Juan Cole. February 2005
10. [http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/8112993.stm Bahrain closes paper in Iran row] BBC 22 June 2009. Retrieved 14 December 2013.
11. [http://www.alarabiya.net/articles/2009/06/22/76676.html Bahrain blocks paper after Ahmadinejad 'slur'] [[Al Arabiya]]. 22 June 2009. Retrieved 14 December 2013.