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Manama: Hours after the information minister highlighted the merits of a draft law that scraps prison terms for journalists, one MP attacked it as unconstitutional and another vowed to resist it.
"The proposed law is a violation of Article 18 of the constitution that states that all people are equal in their rights and duties regardless of their sex, origin, language, religion or faith," MP Abdullah Al Dossary said.
"The abolition of the prison terms for journalists means that they are given privileges that are against the constitution. The parliament will have to scrutinise it carefully to ensure that no law is broken," said the independent MP.
The draft law to amend the controversial Law 47 governing the press and publication was announced by the government on Sunday and explained by the information minister on Monday.
The Bahrain Journalists Association and journalists hailed the amendments as "a much anticipated enhancement of the media situation", but expressed concerns that Islamist MPs, ostensibly concerned with criticism of religion, would not back it and would block its promulgation.
"I want to reiterate my position against the draft law because all people are equal and the prison term should not be scrapped from the law," Mohammad Khalid, representing the Islamic Menbar, said in a statement. "Journalists cannot and should not be above the law, and should be held accountable like everybody else, including MPs," he said.
Debate
No date has been set for the lower and upper houses to debate the draft law.
But with only two weeks remaining in the current parliamentary session, the draft will most likely be discussed after the five-month long summer recess.
The Shura Council, the 40-member upper house that earlier this year drafted a press law and submitted it to the government, said that it supported all moves to scrap prison terms.
However, the Shura, wary that the draft law presented on Sunday by the government would obliterate its own proposal, urged the MPs to consider its views on the various articles in order to "help uphold democracy and freedom of expression."
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