Bahrain tells media not to condone Qatar policy

DUBAI: Bahrain is warning the island’s media outlets not to “publish or circulate anything that condones or justifies Qatari policies by any means.”

Bahrain’s Information Affairs Ministry said Thursday that those who do publish material sympathetic to Qatar “will be held responsible,” without elaborating.

Bahrain already has shut down one newspaper and refused to accredit journalists, including two from The Associated Press.

Meanwhile, the UAE has blocked access to the website of Qatar Airlines amid an Arab nation campaign to isolate Qatar.

The website block began Thursday and follows the UAE blocking access to a series of Qatari media websites, including those of Doha- based satellite news network Al-Jazeera.

The UAE’s General Civil Aviation Authority also announced on Twitter that it had “closed the airspace for all air traffic to and from Doha until further notice.” It already had blocked Qatar Airlines flights as local airlines had cut their own routes to Doha.

In another development, the UAE national postal service, Emirates Post Group, has suspended all postal services to Qatar, state news agency WAM said on Thursday.

“Emirates Post Group has suspended postal services to Qatar from all of its postal offices in the UAE from June 6, until further notice,” the agency said, adding items in transit would be returned.

Separately, Sudan said it will not take sides in the crisis amid calls from Sudanese lawmakers to back Qatar.

Responding to questions from lawmakers on Wednesday, Foreign Minister Ibrahim Ghandour said he expected Gulf Arab states to overcome the crisis given the “strong relations and blood ties” between them.