MANAMA, 25 November 2004 — Sunni deputies expelled a Shiite journalist from Bahrain’s Parliament in the latest row to erupt in the divided assembly, a parliamentary source said yesterday.
Tuesday’s incident followed a brawl between Sunni and Shiite deputies over the Iraqi city of Fallujah earlier this month.
The source said the Sunni deputies caused an uproar after they removed journalist Batool Al-Sayed of the Al-Wasat newspaper from the assembly.
Muhammad Al-Khaled, a member of Parliament, accused Batool of misquoting him this month as saying Shiite deputies were “murderers” because they justified the US-led attack on Fallujah as a means to get rid of “terrorists”.
“This is dictatorship. There is always discrimination in this council. We’ve had enough discrimination in this country,” a Shiite deputy was quoted as saying after the Parliament speaker suspended the session after failing to bring order.
In an earlier session, 24 Sunni deputies in the 40-seat house tried to pass a motion condemning the battle in Fallujah as a “massacre” but it was blocked by the Shiites.
