Bahrain's government has announced the suspension of a new Saudi pan-Arab news channel just days after its launch.

The Information Affairs Authority said it was "decided to halt the activities of Alarab" because the channel had not "received the necessary permits".

Al-Arab was on air for only a few hours on 1 February before it stopped scheduled broadcasting for "technical and administrative reasons".

One of its first guests was a prominent Bahraini opposition figure.

The decision to interview Khalil Marzook, deputy leader of the Shia political society al-Wefaq and critic of the Gulf island kingdom's Sunni ruling family, was criticised by pro-government media.
'Commitment to impartiality'

Alarab TV, owned by billionaire Saudi businessman Prince Alwaleed bin Talal, launched with the promise of politically independent news.

But shortly after the interview with Mr Marzook was aired, the channel reverted to showing promotional video and promising it would be "back soon".

The Information Affairs Authority said at the time that programming would resume once officials had worked alongside Alarab's management to resolve the "technical and administrative" issues.

BBC