A Bahrain-based correspondent for Reuters was ordered to leave the country on Tuesday after officials complained about the news agency’s purportedly unbalanced coverage of recent unrest in the kingdom. Frederik Richter, who has been based in the capital Manama since 2008, was expelled at a time when reporters throughout the region face unprecedented harassment.
“We will continue to provide comprehensive and unbiased coverage from the country,” Reuters editor-in-chief Stephen Adler said in a statement expressing support for the journalist’s reporting.
Reuters’ operations in Manama would not be influenced by the dismissal of Richter from the country, the report added. An official at the Information Affairs Authority, Sheikh Abdullah bin Nezar al-Khalifa, reportedly suggested that the news agency is free to appoint a replacement.
Uprisings across the Arab world have prompted authoritarian rulers to step up targeting and censorship of the media. In April, two Bahraini journalists died in police custody, prompting allegations of torture.
IPI Press Freedom Manager Anthony Mills said: “The citizens of Bahrain, and the public at large, have a fundamental right to information about developments in the country. When journalists die in custody, or are expelled from the country, the suspicion arises that rather than guarantee this fundamental right, the government is seeking to stifle the flow of information and keep citizens in the dark, because it has something to hide.”
The banning of the Reuters reporter from Bahrain followed similar moves in Syria, Saudi Arabia, and Libya.