Bahrain Mirror: The Bahraini House of Representatives approved a bill to punish those who put stickers, slogans, words, signs, stamps or other markings on any part of the passport by unauthorized parties.

The bill stipulates that the penalty shall be a fine of not less than 50 dinars and not exceeding 400 dinars.

A heated debate erupted between MPs over the bill, as MP Abbas Al-Madhi considered that the law is equating between those who deliberately ruin the passport and those who paste stickers on it.

MP Mohsen Al-Bakri wondered who would be punished since some travel offices and agencies paste stickers on the passport without referring to the owner.

The First Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives Ali Al-Aradi called for referring the bill to the Committee to make fundamental amendments to it, a proposal which was backed by MP Majid Majid, who saw that the bill needed to be amended to ensure its validity.

However, the Chairman of the Foreign Committee Abdullah bin Huwail refused to refer the law to the Committee to be studied, and stressed that there were enough discussions regarding the bill held with the concerned parties, and that any proposal to amend the bill must be given at the same meeting.

MP Jamal Buhsan stressed the need for the draft law in order to protect the Bahraini passport and to preserve the form of this important official document from any tampering.

Arabic Version