Bahrain Crackdown: Bahraini Al-Wasat Newspaper Vacates Offices

Local Editor

Nearly one year after authorities in Manama suspended the publication, Bahrain's Al-Wasat newspaper vacated its offices on Tuesday.

The building will reportedly be handed back to its owner early next month.

Last June, al-Wasat's print edition was banned over a piece about unrest in the Moroccan town of El Hoceima. Manama's Information Affairs Authority alleged that the paper was sowing division and undermining Bahrain's relations with other countries.

A few weeks later, Al-Wasat's board of directors decided that it had to terminate the contracts of the nearly 200 employees working at the paper due to the suspension.

Al-Wasat, which was the only independent daily in the Gulf state, faced bans on two other occasions since the start of Bahrain's popular uprising in 2011.

Source: Lualua TV, Edited by website team