Al-Manar Apologizes to Bahrain over Coverage of Protests

Al-Manar television director general Abdullah Qassir has confirmed that the Hizbullah-owned TV network has apologized to Bahrain over its coverage of the Shiite-led protests in the Gulf kingdom, LBCI and al-Jadeed reported on Sunday.

LBCI quoted sources informed on the ongoing meetings of the Arab League-affiliated Arab States Broadcasting Union as saying that “the apology came as a compromise, after Bahrain demanded expelling the Lebanese Communication Group (parent company of al-Manar and al-Nour) from the ASBU.”

Bahrain's state news agency BNA had reported on Saturday evening that LCG “has officially apologized to the Information Affairs Authority in the kingdom of Bahrain over its coverage of news related to the kingdom in the previous period.”

“In its statement which was published and announced during the 90th general assembly of the ASBU's executive council … (LCG) extended its apology to the kingdom of Bahrain and stressed its commitment to objectivity in covering the news of Arab countries in the future,” BNA said.

“The heads of the participating delegations welcomed this step as well as the kingdom of Bahrain's acceptance of LCG's apology,” BNA added, noting that the union's director general recited the Lebanese group's statement during the general assembly.

The agency said Bahrain had submitted to the Arab League's general-secretariat a request to revoke LCG's membership in the ASBU, adding that the request was referred to the union's general assembly since it is the highest authority concerned with looking into the issue and ruling on it.

Shiite-majority Bahrain has blacklisted Hizbullah and banned Bahraini opposition groups from having contact with the Lebanese party over allegations it was interfering in the kingdom's internal affairs.

The opposition, which is battling for democratization, insists that its political agenda is Bahraini and not linked to Iran or other Shiite sides.

Despite the March 2011 deadly crackdown on protests, Shiites continue to demonstrate in their villages, triggering frequent clashes with police. A total of 80 people have been killed since the protests erupted, according to the International Federation for Human Rights.

Hizbullah and its media outlets had voiced strong support for the protest movement in Bahrain and criticized the heavy-handed crackdown on the Arab Spring-inspired demonstrations.

The party's Loyalty to Resistance parliamentary bloc has recently deplored “the repression of the aggrieved Bahraini people," saying they have been rejecting the authorities' policies "in a completely peaceful manner."