Bahrain was urged to take a softer approach to Internet censorship by United Nations Development Programme Arab Knowledge Report director Dr Ghaith Fariz.

The government's alleged policy of blocking politically-motivated websites and newspapers could be 'cutting the bad with the good,' said Dr Fariz.

Dr Fariz claimed that although blacklisting pornographic content could be justified from a moral standpoint, there was a fine line when censoring other subjects.

'We are advocates of total freedom,' he told our sister newspaper Gulf Daily News (GDN) yesterday.

'In many cases, websites may be blocked for good or bad reasons - we are not here to judge.

'Unfortunately, what tends to be happening more frequently is that in the name of combating the evil we seem to be killing a lot of the good.

'We have called, and we still call, for people to understand that the veering principles of blocking specific sites can be abused and has been abused - intentionally or unintentionally.'

According to studies undertaken by the Bahrain Centre for Human Rights, approximately 1,040 websites have allegedly been censored by the Culture and Information Ministry.

Dr Fariz was speaking at a Press conference at the United Nations headquarters in Hoora.

He was outlining the findings of the Arab Knowledge Report 2009, the first in an annual series to be published in association with the Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum Foundation.

The 312-page report examines how knowledge in the Arab world is passed on by educational institutions and other means.

It also considers how negative factors have prevented this from happening in certain situations.

Dr Fariz explained that in comparison to other regional countries, Bahrain ranks favourably and in many comparisons can now stand alongside many prominent developed countries.

However, he did warn that much work still needed to be done.

'Looking at Bahrain and the trajectory of socio-economic development in the country, I really do feel it has a chance of emerging and joining the political elite,' he said.

'Bahrain has a relatively educated population with adequate access to financial assets - even its limited population should be seen as a source of strength as it makes the country more manageable.

'However, this is not to say that there are no challenges to be overcome, but I see no reason why Bahrain cannot elevate its standing and be seen as a healthy developed state.'

Some of the issues hindering Arab knowledge include war, occupation and internal conflict, according to the report.

It also focuses on the effect of increasing extremism as an obstacle to the establishment of a knowledge society.

'In discussing extremism and its impact on the knowledge society, the report distinguishes between extreme loyalty (ta'asub) and extremism (tararuf),' the report read.

'Extreme loyalty may remain merely excessive zeal for a particular idea of affiliation.

'When this goes too far, it falls into the snare of extremism, which in turn leads to inward-looking positions that negate the other and halt the process of dialogue and intercommunication.'-TradeArabia News Service