MANAMA - Bahrain’s information ministry has stopped broadcasts by the first privately-held radio station in the tiny Gulf kingdom due to a series of “violations,” an official said on Sunday. Jamal Daoud, who heads the ministry’s publications department, said the ministry had canceled the license granted to Delmon Media, which operates the Sawt Al Ghad, or “the voice of tomorrow,” radio station.The ministry also revoked an agreement between Bahraini state-run radio and television corporation and Delmon Media, he said.
Sawt Al Ghad, which began operating in January, committed “a series of violations and did not abide by the terms of the agreement that enabled it to transmit,” Daoud told AFP. He cited the owners’ failure to present bank evidence that their company has a capital of three million dollars, their tampering with the airwaves on which they transmitted and “other violations.”
Although a draft law regulating audiovisual media in Bahrain is still before parliament, the informtion ministry licensed Sawt Al Ghad on the basis of internal bylaws “in a bid to open the market to investors,” Daoud said. The ministry is currently studying more than 10 requests for licenses for private radio and television stations, he said.
But the newspaper Al Waqt quoted Sawt Al Ghad’s director, Raja Sawaya, as denying that the company had violated any of the terms of the agreement with the ministry. The cancelation order received on Saturday “did not contain any details about, or justifications for, the decision,” he said, adding that Delmon was considering making a formal protest.
| Sucks to live in a non-democratic state, huh. |