Anyone holding a position of public trust has to be ready to bear criticism, Akhbar Al Khaleej editor-in-chief Anwar Abdulrahman said yesterday.

The role of the Press is to report news and not to make them, he was quoted as saying in a report in the Gulf Daily News.

He made the statement as he appeared before Public Prosecution chief Wael Buallai following a case rights activist Nabeel Rajab filed against him and our sister paper Akhbar Al Khaleej.

It is not common practice to take the Press to court for fulfilling its duties, Mr Abdulrahman stressed, adding what the newspaper published against Mr Rajab, based on a website report, was out of concern and in public interest.

The newspaper did not receive any response or correction in this regard from the complainant, who rather preferred to resort to the Public Prosecution and courts, said Mr Abdulrahman.

Mr Abdulrahman was speaking in the presence of Bahrain Journalists' Association representative Sayyed Abdulqader and lawyer Sami Siyadi.

The role of Akhbar Al Khaleej, being a national Arab newspaper, is to publish information of public interest and show restraint over news that contradict religious values, customs and traditions, he pointed out.

Replies sent by organisations regarding what has been written about them are published immediately and referred to their sources; he noted, adding if a newspaper investigates every piece of information, it will not be able to maintain its periodicity.

The Public Prosecution has accused Mr Abdulrahman of publishing news including abuse and defamation with respect to the victim, but ordered him released on the guarantee of his place of residence.

The Bahrain Journalists' Association reiterated its full solidarity with Akhbar Al Khaleej and praised Mr Abdulrahman for having accepted its mediation to settle the issue amicably. It also expressed regret over Mr Rajab's attitude of not allowing the chance for an amicable solution.

Freedom of opinion and expression as well as right to refutation and correction are guaranteed by the law, the association said, adding if Mr Rajab claims to be an advocate of freedom of opinion and freedom of the Press, he should accept with the right spirit and an open mind what has been published about him and abide by the law that guaranteed for him the right to refutation rather than try and repress the Press.

Mr Abdulrahman was received by a number of human rights activists, led by Bahrain Human Rights Watch Society (BHRWS) secretary general Faisal Fulad.

Four BHRWS members also staged a sit-in outside the Public Prosecution building in solidarity with Mr Abdulrahman. They raised banners in Arabic and English denouncing Mr Rajab for trying to suppress freedom of expression and calling for implementation of the article on imprisonment of journalists. They were received by Mr Abdulrahman who expressed Bahrain's civil institutions' support to the society.

A statement issued in Arabic, English and French by the Bahrain Human Rights Watch Society deputy secretary general and director of the society's inernational office in London, strongly condemned Mr Rajab for filing the legal case against Mr Abdulrahman. - TradeArabia News Service