Sheikh Nasser bin Hamad Al Khalifa

Contrary to our report "Bahraini prince is not immune from prosecution for alleged torture, High Court rules" (Oct 8) Sheikh Nasser was not arrested in London during his 2012 visit to the Olympics. Nor, we understand, has he ever been arrested anywhere. We are happy to make this clear and apologize for this error.

The Daily Telegraph

10th October 2014

Bahrain Mirror (Exclusive): As the proverb says "A drowning man will clutch at a straw", this is exactly how Bahrain News Agency acted in regards to the king's son, Nasser bin Hamad Al Khalifa, after several international media outlets published his photos with titles like "A Bahraini prince accused of torture" and "The UK High Court dropped the immunity of the prince to investigate him over these charges."

However, when the drowning man imagines the straw to be a lifeboat, the whole matter becomes humorous and pitiful.

The Telegraph Apology

Prominent British newspapers as "the Daily Telegraph" won't find any shame in correcting any error it commits or even apologize for the mistake. Thus, it published the aforementioned correction (translated in red in the heading of this report) in order to let it be known to everyone. However, this apology has been used and manipulated by the Bahrain News Agency and pro-regime newspapers to attack the international media and paint Nasser bin Hamad as an "oppressed man".

The single matter is that the newspaper had written in an article, while covering the judicial decision on October 8, 2014 that Nasser bin Hamad "was arrested in London during his visit to the Olympics". However, when the Telegraph knew that the arrest did not happen, it corrected the news and apologized for this mistake.

Bahrain News Agency Report: No restraint, No conscience...This prince is oppressed

A 50-word-apology about a false piece of news led the BNA to publish a report of 900 words claiming that the Telegraph apologized for "insulting Sheikh Nasser" and considering this apology as error recognition and an evidence of lack of professionalism and credibility. BNA did not only target the Telegraph but also a number of other media sources.

BNA accused the international media of depending on "suspicious channels, website and organizations" and for not validating what is being published. BNA added that the international media are biased and work with no restraint, conscience or morals.

The agency then goes further saying that this is a conspiracy where the media were "tools" at the hands of those who want to abuse "the Kingdom of Bahrain". This very media was "unconsciously" followed by others with an aim of "snap press". BNA ended its attack saying that the falsity of the claim was exposed, thus "the credibility and neutrality of these organizations and media was compromised. These organizations and media sources will not find excuses for misleading the international and Arab public opinions during the past days."

The enormous BNA report was not free of exaggeration itself for it described the international media coverage as "an oppressing and targeted campaign against his highness, Prince Nasser bin Hamad Al Khalifa". It then moved to stating the virtues of Sheikh Nasser that keep him away from being accused of torture "His highness is a knight, athlete, leader, poet, merciful, man of good and righteous who achieved the most amazing national achievements on all aspects."

So why did the report not print the apology word for word or present a copy of it?

The report published by all the Bahraini newspaper, except "Al Wasat", neither mentioned the full text of the Telegraph's apology nor presented a copy of it (as we did). It did not even tackle the content of the apology. The report, of course, will not refer to what the Telegraph exactly apologized for.

Aiming at exaggerating the lie, the pro-regime Al Watan newspaper announced that the Daily Telegraph's apology was presented to Sheikh Nasser himself. Al Watan newspaper added that the apology was published for "the wrong information published about Prince Nasser after a number of false news spread on foreign media, in particular, concerning false claims refuted by the Foreign Ministry in its latest statement."

BNA felt ashamed to translate its report into the English Language

It is to mention that the Telegraph neither withdrew the report nor published the correction on its website. It only published it in its newspaper. In addition, it did not change the category of the report broadcast in the "Crimes" news section.

Neither did the telegraph say that it misunderstood the "judicial decision", nor did it say that it should not have published the statements of the political refugee who brought the case against Hamad bin Nasser. Furthermore, the Telegraph did not mention that it should not have questioned the lawyer or that it was mistaken regarding the torture charges raised against Nasser bin Hamad.

The telegraph has not known yet that the Bahrain News Agency misstated and falsified a small correction it published in one of its margins yesterday to lead out of it a great campaign against "the international media" for talking badly about King Hamad's son.

The reason why Telegraph has not known yet about BNA is that the latter felt ashamed of publishing a translation of its report and was satisfied in its Arabic version only, for the "naiveties" of the report are clearly directed towards the Bahraini internal community; the community that should not weaken after this strong attack.

It was ironic how eager the Bahraini authority was to receive a fake apology and use it as victory to fraud a group of naïve people who misunderstand the matters.

But Why? Why are they upset with the foreign media?

The mistake of the international media, attacked by BNA, was simply covering the judicial decision against Nasser bin Hamad and its lawful consequences. According to the wishes of BNA the international media should not have published the explanation of the judicial decision, the opinion of the Bahraini political refugee, who is central to the case, or what the lawyers said about the coming steps. They only had to publish the opinion of the Bahraini government, its explanation of the judicial decision and its fabricated interpretation of the general British prosecution. (BNA's report stated that the government issued two official statements, however this did not stop the campaign).

The Bahraini authorities' rival opponent in this crisis is the British Judiciary; in particular the High Court of Justice and Lord Justice John Laws, the head of this court that represents the highest court in Britain and that can invalidate any decision issued from the legislative and executive authorities and those issued by the other courts.

An Advice for the ruling Family in Bahrain

If there was any advice to be given to the ruling family in Bahrain, it would be to direct all the organizations it uses to assign a brilliant lawyer to defend Nasser in front of the judicial organization in Britain and to make use of the enormous amount of money it pays to the PR companies to attack the international media and pay it instead to the law firm that will defend Nasser. Only then we guarantee that Nasser will enjoy a "fair trial" that "meets the international standards".

However, if the ruling family insists on following the same system, we draw its attention that we noticed that a number of newspapers update their reports, coverage and articles about Nasser bin Hamad case due to shortcomings or mistakes. We will not give more information. Yet, if the Bahraini authority is serious about making use of valuable opportunities, let it use the mechanism of the great public relations that takes millions from the Bahraini authority to search for mistakes, send requests of corrections and objection and publish comments and attacking responses for the media coverage, although it has failed and constantly fails in achieving any victory there.

The Arabic Version