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Manama: A Bahraini editor at the centre of a landmark legal case brought against him by a religious preacher on Thursday denied that he had asked intermediaries to intervene for an out-of-court settlement.
"The reports that I am ready to apologise and seek a settlement are groundless. I am not aware of any role by anyone to reach a compromise. The newspaper was not wrong and it will not apologise. I want the case to follow its course," Eisa Al Shaiji, editor-in-chief of Al Ayam, told Gulf News.
Egyptian-born Islamic preacher Wajdi Gunaim last August initiated legal action before the Criminal Court against Al Shaiji and columnist Saeed Al Hamad for alleged slander.
In a series of columns last year, Al Saeed charged that the preacher and the Muslim Brotherhood had brought extremist ideas to Bahrain, disseminated ideas that threatened to erode the country's values of tolerance and pluralism, promoted a rigid interpretation of social life, and disturbed the relationship between the country's Sunni and Shiite communities.
But Gunaim said the newspaper had offended Islam, attacked his integrity and sought to tarnish his reputation.
"If Al Ayam wants me to drop the 13 charges I have against them, they should publish a one-page apology, pledge to draft a code of ethics in which they commit not to attack me again and to pay for the lawyers' expenses," Gunaim was quoted as saying from South Africa where he is now residing.
The preacher was expelled from Bahrain last November after Kuwaitis complained that he had insulted them during former Iraqi President Saddam Hussain's invasion. The preacher, who also had problems with US immigration authorities denied the claims, but left Bahrain.
His case against Al Ayam has been adjourned until the Constitutional Court rules on the constitutionality of an article in the controversial 2002 press law stipulating that editors in chief are held legally responsible, alongside journalists and columnists, for the articles and columns that are published in their newspapers.
If Al Ayam wants me to drop the 13 charges I have against them, they should publish a one-page apology, pledge to draft a code of ethics in which they commit not to attack me ... and to pay for the lawyers' expenses."
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