Bahrain’s prominent and opposition-linked al-Wasat newspaper has laid off its staff.
The newspaper had already stopped publishing earlier this month as part of the Al Khalifah regime’s heavy-handed crackdown on political dissent and pro-democracy campaigners in the tiny Persian Gulf kingdom.
“We regret to inform you that the board of directors... has decided to terminate the employment contracts with the employees,” board chairman, Adel al-Maskati, wrote in an English message addressed to "all staff" on Saturday.
The London-based Bahrain Institute for Rights and Democracy said the ban on the paper was “the latest in an escalated crackdown on independent civil society.”
The closure of independent Bahraini newspaper came after it published an article about popular protests and a general strike in Morocco’s restive northern city of al-Hoceima.
This is the third time that Manama regime authorities have ordered al-Wasat newspaper to stop publishing a print edition since the outbreak of pro-democracy rallies in March 2011.
Thousands of anti-regime protesters have held demonstrations in Bahrain on an almost daily basis ever since a popular uprising began in the country in mid-February 2011.
They are demanding that the Al Khalifah dynasty relinquish power and allow a just system representing all Bahrainis to be established.
Manama has gone to great lengths to clamp down on any sign of dissent. On March 14, 2011, troops from Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates were deployed to assist Bahrain in its crackdown.
Scores of people have lost their lives and hundreds of others sustained injuries or got arrested as a result of the Al Khalifah regime’s crackdown.