Arabic daily Al Wasat was given the green light to publish again on Monday, after its editor-in-chief was sacked yesterday along with two senior members of the publication's management team.

Editor-in-chief Dr Mansoor Al Jamri, managing editor Waleed Nuwaihedh and local news editor Aqeel Mirza were fired by the newspaper's board of directors after it was accused of printing fabricated news during recent unrest.

Elections for the newspaper's board of directors are now expected to take place next month.

'Al Wasat newspaper board of directors decided to appoint Obaidli Al Obaidli as editor-in-chief to replace Dr Mansoor Al Jamri,' said a statement on the Bahrain News Agency website.

'The board had earlier today decided to sack editor-in-chief Dr Mansoor Al Jamri, managing editor Waleed Nwaihedh and local news editor Aqeel Mirza and hold elections for membership to the board next month.'

The newspaper was suspended on Saturday, meaning there was no edition yesterday.

However, it was given the green light to publish today after the board named Obaidli Al Obaidli as the new editor-in-chief.

Bahrain TV accused the opposition newspaper of deliberately publishing fake news items during a live broadcast on Saturday night.

The station provided evidence that appeared to show Al Wasat took news from foreign Arabic newspapers and online forums, changed the details and falsely reported the incidents took place in Bahrain.

One example was an article on March 28 about a Bahraini who claimed he had been assaulted by security forces, but the accompanying photograph allegedly showed a Moroccan national assaulted by Moroccan police more than five years ago.

The original article about the Moroccan assault is said to have appeared in Saudi newspaper Al Watan on December 17, 2005.

Also on March 28, Al Wasat claimed a doctor called Hassan Marhoon had his car vandalised in Sanad. However, authorities claim it was simply a rehash of an old article written about Bahraini MP Adnan Al Malki, whose car was targeted during elections last October.

On March 26, the newspaper reported an eight-year-old boy was assaulted by a security official in Manama and quotes the child's uncle saying the attack happened after noon prayers, while the child was on his way to a toy store with his mother and brothers.

However, Bahrain TV tracked down the original article to a Palestinian newspaper, which reported the incident happened in Jerusalem on June 27 - suggesting the places and names had been changed to suit the plot.

Al Wasat also reported that a teenager was arrested after security forces raided his home in Sanad on March 24.

It quoted the 15-year-old's family saying riot police and military personnel raided his home, but Bahrain TV said the details were copied from an article that appeared in the paper from last November - with only the child's name, age and location changed.

The Central Informatics Organisation has said the child's name, Hussain Mansoor Taher, did not exist in its official records - while the photograph that accompanied the article was used with a story on a raid on a terrorist cell in Hamad Town in 2007.

A similar picture from a different angle also appeared in another Arabic newspaper, Al Ayam, on August 2007.

Bahraini authorities have accused Al Wasat of distorting facts and reporting selective details in a deliberate attempt to influence its readership during a critical period.

Before news of his sacking was announced, Dr Al Jamri told the GDN the newspaper was conducting its own investigation.

'The paper has a clean history and we are going to identify what is going on and conduct our own investigation,' he said.

The Bahrain Journalists Association (BJA) last night held an emergency meeting to discuss the issue.

Following the meeting, the BJA issued a statement in which it asked the newspaper's new board of directors - due to be elected next month - to come out with a clear explanation of what happened and identify those responsible.

It said the matter had been raised with the International Federation of Journalists and the Federation of Arab Journalists. 'The association board decided to raise the issue to these bodies to take a stand on the clear violation to journalism and its credibility,' the statement said.

'BJA is demanding the new newspaper board present a clear explanation behind what truly happened to the public and to specify those responsible.'

However, the BJA welcomed the Information Affairs Authority decision to allow the newspaper to resume publication today and the appointment of Al Obaidli as new editor-in-chief.

'The board is strongly shocked at the clear fabrication of information the newspaper has committed, in a clear signal that shows an intention to hit the country's security and stability and increase tension,' the statement said.

'What happened was a clear breach of International Federation of Journalists standards, which is a reference for journalism ethics and standards.'

BJA chairman Isa Al Shaiji said the organisation was awaiting an explanation from the newspaper. 'Following that we will take the rightful action,' he said.

The Information Affairs Authority has also referred the newspaper to 'relevant authorities' for investigation.-TradeArabia News Service