Manama: Bahrain’s cabinet has called for the legal procedures to be completed to bring the perpetrators of a terror blast that killed two policemen last week to justice.

The cabinet, chaired by Prime Minister Prince Khalifa Bin Salman Al Khalifa, considers the perpetrators and those who incited their action or provided them with any kind of support or assistance as essential partners in the terror crime, Yasser Bin Eisa Al Nasser, the Secretary-General of the Cabinet, said following the weekly session on Monday.

The cabinet urged the authorities to quickly finalise the security procedures to bring the criminals to justice, and enforce measures that achieve prompt justice and deter terrorism, Al Nasser added in a statement carried by the Bahrain News Agency (BNA).

The session said “the adoption of unified stances and rallying behind the country’s leaders was the best way to fend off sedition and foil the attempts of tendentious sides to subvert the kingdom’s security and stability.”

Terror acts will not impede the government’s efforts to enhance development that benefits the nation and its citizens, nor will they affect its tireless work to maintain the kingdom’s status as a secure and stable nation under its leadership, the cabinet said, and emphasised that acts of terrorism are rejected by all divine religions, and represented a flagrant infringement on human sanctities, rights and conventions.

Prince Khalifa during the session underlined the need to continue dealing with terror groups and organisations relentlessly and firmly, especially amid the dangerous shift in their tactics, and issued instructions “to take all necessary security measures to protect the nation and citizens from the acts committed by misguided groups that have put aside all human and civilisational values and resorted to terrorism to tamper with lives and property in order to serve agendas aimed at destabilising the nation and fuel sedition.”

The Ministry of Information Affairs was told to monitor the coverage of the kingdom’s issues and events by the local and foreign media.

The ministry was also requested to coordinate with ministries and government departments to ensure the media received information from credible official sources that would reflect the reality in the kingdom.

Information Affairs Minister Eisa Bin Abdul Rahman Al Hammadi later told the media at the weekly briefing that Bahrain would not hesitate to take the necessary legal measures to prevent the publication of false or misleading information in the media, stressing that the ministry communicated with media companies and establishments that disseminated inexact or erroneous reports about the kingdom.

Legal action remains an option when companies or the establishments persist in their bias and refuse to cooperate, the minister said.

“The discussions today at the Cabinet session included the local and foreign media, and as Minister of Information, I briefed the government on the measures taken by the Information Ministry and which comprise monitoring, following up and analysing the media as well as applying the local laws regarding cooperation with the media over local issues,” he said. “As for external and international media, there is steady communication with media companies and establishments to correct any misinformation published about the Kingdom of Bahrain.”

The ministry, with respect to local matters, applies the 2002 Press Law; however other laws are applied in coordination with the authorities if the situation demands it, the minister added.

“There is constant work and coordination on this matter and the Ministry of Information Affairs has taken diverse measures with some local media establishments. At the same time, several international media establishments have published replies prepared by the concerned government media offices to rectify inaccurate information about Bahrain,” Al Hammadi said.

The minister added that the cyber-crime law was applied in Bahrain whenever there was any abuse or denigration by the media of any component of society or whenever there was incitement to hatred or to breaking the law on social media.

“The 2002 Press Law did not include electronic abuses or violations, and we look forward to their incorporation in the new law after it is drafted by the Ministry of Information Affairs and endorsed by the competent authorities. We need to stress that the Kingdom of Bahrain does have rigorous laws that are applied against anyone who abuses or harms others in any way. It is highly significant that we have a culture of positive responsibility in dealing with the social media that is based on national cohesion and the coexistence of all components of Bahraini society,” he said.