Bahraini regime announced on Monday the permanent closure of a newly-launched Arab-language news channel following a period of suspension over an interview it conducted with a Bahraini opposition figure.

Bahraini regime announced on Monday the permanent closure of a newly-launched Arab-language news channel following a period of suspension over an interview it conducted with a Bahraini opposition figure.

Al-Arab News Channel had vowed to practice "objective" journalism in a politically-charged Middle East region.

"It has been decided to halt the activities of Al-Arab, the channel not having received the necessary permits," a statement from the Bahrain Information Affairs Authority said on Monday.

Al-Arab channel had earlier been unexpectedly suspended a day after it was launched in the Bahraini capital, Manama, and just hours after it broadcast an interview with Khalil al-Marzooq, a former deputy Speaker of Bahrain and an aide to Sheik Ali Salman, the detained Secretary General of al-Wefaq National Islamic Society, which is Bahrain’s main opposition movement.

The channel, however, owned by Saudi Prince al-Waleed bin Talal bin Abdulaziz Al Saud, blamed technical problems for the suspension, without offering further details.

'Back soon'

Al-Arab continued to show promotional material with a message that programming had been interrupted for "technical and administrative reasons, and we'll be back soon, God willing".

However, the promotional material later stopped and the screen displayed only Alarab's green and white logo.