DUBAI: Bahrain has ordered an independent newspaper to stop publishing "until further notice" amid a crackdown on dissent in the Gulf nation.
The Information Affairs Ministry said today the decision to shut down Al-Wasat came over its publication of a story "affecting the relations of the kingdom of Bahrain with other countries."
Mansoor al-Jamri, the paper's editor-in-chief, told The Associated Press that the article dealt with a northern Morocco town where the arrest of demonstrators has aggravated public anger over corruption and poor economic conditions.
Al-Jamri said the order was a "total surprise." He added: "We didn't have any due process basically."
The decision comes amid a yearlong crackdown in which activists have been arrested or forced into exile while political parties have been disbanded.