

By James M. Dorsey

A failed effort by a public relations company representing Bahrain and a UK law firm acting on behalf of Prince Nasser bin Hamad al-Khalifa, the commander of Bahrain's Royal Guard and head of its National Olympic Committee, to micromanage media coverage of this month's lifting of the prince's immunity by a British court reflects mounting unease in the island state and international sporting associations. The court decision opens the door to a British police investigation into whether or not Prince Nasser was involved in the torture of political detainees that could include three former players for the Bahraini national soccer team.

The five-day long effort by UK-based Bell-Yard Communications Ltd and London law firm Schillings was aimed at forcing this writer as well as The Huffington Post to adopt Bahrain's narrow and partial interpretation of the court decision. That interpretation involved an inaccurate assertion that no investigation into whether or not Prince Nasser had been involved in torture of detainees could emerge from the court decision, that immunity had not been part of the grounds on which the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) had initially refused to investigate, and that soccer players had noting to do with the investigation.

The lawyers and PR representatives appeared particularly concerned about the assertion that the investigation could involve soccer players presumably because of the implications that could have for Prince Nasser's Olympic status as well as that of a relative of his, Sheikh Salman Bin Ebrahim Al Khalifa, the president of the Asian Football Confederation (AFC), and according to the state-run Bahrain News Agency, the prince's number two at the Bahrain Olympic Committee and the island state's Supreme Council for Youth and Sport.


The lawyers and PR representatives sought to have removed any reference in this writer's article to a potential investigation or that immunity had played a role in the CPS's thinking despite the fact that the prosecution in a statement to the court agreed to the lifting of Prince Nasser's immunity in expectation that the Bahraini plaintiffs would submit further evidence. Lawyers for the plaintiffs said after the court hearing that the ruling opened the door to an investigation and that they would be providing additional evidence.


Nonetheless, in attempting to prevent fair and honest reporting, the lawyers and PR agents contradicted themselves. The attempt to force deletions that would have substantially altered the core of the story occurred despite the fact that Bell's Melanie Riley had provided to this writer the statement of the prosecution to the court.

The prosecution said in the statement that "in the light of the Claimant's intention to submit further evidence to the police (who are responsible for investigating the allegations), the Crown Prosecution Service has agreed to state to the police its view that immunity should not be a bar to any such investigation on the evidence currently available."

Bahraini concern that the possible fallout of the court decision could affect not only Prince Nasser but also Sheikh Salman was evident in an email from Ms. Riley assertion that "there is no relevance to the AFC of yesterday's proceedings."






Qatar's strategy backfired when Britain's Channel Four disclosed that the Gulf state had hired Portland Communications founded by Tony Allen, a former adviser to Tony Blair when he was prime minister, to create a soccer blog that wrongly claimed to be "truly independent" and represent "a random bunch of football fans, determined to spark debate," but in fact served to attack its detractors.


Disclosing the UAE's efforts to shape reporting in the US media, The Intercept noted that "the point here is not that Qatar is innocent of supporting extremists... The point is that this coordinated media attack on Qatar - using highly paid former U.S. officials and their media allies - is simply a weapon used by the Emirates, Israel, the Saudis and others to advance their agendas."
