False propaganda

Manama : Bahrain is facing hostile propaganda orchestrated by vested interests to incite hatred, promote terrorism and defame the Kingdom, according to Bahrain Human Rights Watch Society (BHRWS) General Secretary Faisal Fulad.  More than 7,350 such hostile propaganda texts with aggressive content were circulated on social media in August alone, he said.

Fulad, who’s also the General Coordinator of the Civil Delegation of the Kingdom of Bahrain to The United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) in Geneva, confirmed that all the materials were documented in a report published in Arabic, English and French languages to reveal the truth about the systematic campaign targeting Bahrain and the safety of its people.

“There are at least 250 fake accounts on different social media networks that have been detected while constantly targeting Bahrain and its civil security. Further investigations showed that these accounts were operated by individuals residing in Tehran, Beirut, London and Berlin. That is in addition to 89 aggressive articles published by Iran-backed newspapers and websites in Arabic and Farsi languages,” Fulad explained in his statement, adding that the articles aim to defame the Government of the Kingdom of Bahrain, its official bodies, civil society, press, columnist and legislative authority.

Fulad also mentioned that some of the accounts belonged to banned terror groups that were responsible for the killing of various public security members and civilians here such as Al Mukhtar and Al Ashtar Brigades and February 14 Coalition. At least 230 statements, messages and media content targeting the safety of the Kingdom were posted on each day of the previous month, according to human rights activists.

The activist added that the hatred promoted by these individuals and organisations have increased since the failed coup attempt in 2011. He called them to commit to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, which prohibits all calls for national, racial or religious hatred that constitutes incitement to discrimination, hostility or violence.