Thursday, September 12, 2013

Bahrain and the art of deception

False claims of international backing for repression

By Brian Whitaker

"....
On Wednesday the Gulf Daily News followed this up by claiming that Bahrain had "won superpower backing against 'unfair' comments" by Pillay. It said America's ambassador to the UN Human Rights Council, Eileen Donahoe, had "agreed" that Pillay's remarks did not reflect reality.

The story did not elaborate on what the ambassador had supposedly said or indicate in what ways she thought Pillay's remarks had failed to "reflect reality", but it was duly regurgitated by various other publications and websites, including Trade Arabia and the British-based Middle East Association.

There's no evidence to suggest the Gulf Daily News story might be true and, considering that the US had just put its name to the 47-country "statement of concern" about Bahrain, there's every reason to suppose the story was false. A note subsequently issued by the American mission to the UN in Geneva complained of "gross factual inaccuracies" in the story.

This might be viewed simply as a case of bad reporting but it's not a one-off. Bahrain and its media have a history of making false claims about international support.

Last November, for example, the official Bahrain News Agency twisted a statement from Alistair Burt, Britain's Foreign Office minister with responsibility for the Middle East, to make it appear that he was totally supportive of the Bahraini government.

On other occasions, Bahraini media have:

  • Misrepresented a statement from Amnesty International about the death of a 14-year-old protester.
  • Falsely claimed that UN secretary-general Ban Ki-moon had declared support for the kingdom's "security" measures (i.e. repression).
  • Invented a statement from Navi Pillay about unrest in Bahrain which the official news agency later admitted to be false. 
  • Misreported a critical statement from William Hague, the British foreign secretary, to make it appear that he was praising Bahrain's government.  "

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