Bahrain Mirror (Exclusive): He came from rock bottom, tasted the flavor of authority and power and became a monster.

All he had was his father Yackoub, who used to work with the Shaikha, former prince's wife. He used to purchase the daily orders for the palace's kitchen. Nonetheless, three of his children (Nabeel, Faisal and Basem) managed to secure ministry positions. His son Nabeel became the king's private companion, who sits under the king's feet like a loyal puppy, but he out of a sudden bit the king's two sons at once.

Perhaps Nabeel Al-Hamr now under the influence of authority and power forgot who he was that he was an ordinary employee at the state news agency which he later became its president, after getting closer to the then crown prince (the current king), then became head of Al-Ayyam newspaper, minister of information, and then the king's private adviser and companion. Within a short period of time, Al-Hamr managed to secure a permanent share for his family in the government.

Despite marrying a woman from Al-Zayani family, he insisted on targeting Minister Zayed Al-Zayani. Last February a brawl broke out between Al-Hamr's newspaper and the Gulf Air Company, headed by Zayed, and then the Journalists Association, run by Al-Hamr, interfered and backed Al-Ayyam newspaper. Deputy Chief Executive Officer of Gulf Air, Waleed Al-Alawi, was forced to apologize to the newspaper, although the latter showed no leniency.

In an unusual act, Al-Ayyam newspaper published negative news regarding anything related to Minister Zayed Al-Zayani, who said in a press conference, "I dislike Al-Ayyam newspaper and I will not give any statement to it or answer any of its questions". The war started then. Al-Ayyam used everything it could use against him. Al-Hamr was the main director of such news and didn't take into consideration that Al-Zayani is a special minister that is a close friend to the crown prince.

Al-Ayyam newspaper published a piece of news on a letter sent by some officials at the Tourism Authority to the crown prince's office as a complaint against Al-Zayani. The crown prince responded on Monday (July 1, 2019) by ordering the formation of an investigation commission into defamation accusations. Everybody went silent as a result including the newspaper and Al-Hamr.

However, Nabeel Al-Hamr's biggest mistake was in his calculations with regards to Minister Ayman Al-Moayed. Al-Hamr had a desire to make this young minister submit to him for an unknown reason, perhaps because Al-Hamr has become used to making everyone yield to him, since he's the king's private companion and media adviser. Information from inside the newspaper reveals that journalist Abdullah Al-Babetin didn't do the poll on the Ministry of Youths and Sports all by himself, but under a special request he received. Nonetheless, no one expected that this poll would be another bite from Nabeel Al-Hamr against the king's favorite son, Nasser bin Hamad.

All the critics of Minister Al-Zayyani were silenced, and those who criticized the Sports Minister were punished. Akil Al-Sayed was dismissed from his post as head of the sports department in the newspaper and journalist Abdulla Al-Babetin was removed as well. The question here is: But what about the spearhead Nabeel Al-Hamr?

Arabic Version