The Bahraini foreign minister, Khalid Al Khalifa, urged the people of Bahrain to vote against an Al Jazeera film - 'Shouting in the Dark' - in an online poll for the UK's Bafta Television Awards this year.
'Shouting in the Dark' is a documentary on the Bahrain's crackdown of anti-government protests in 2011.
The film competes along side three other documentaries, including Channel 4's 'Sri Lanka's Killing Fields', for the Current Affairs prize, determined by the results of an online poll conducted by the Radio Times.
The two front runners have drawn in an unprecedented number of votes. At present, 65,881 votes have been cast for 'Shouting in the Dark', and 47,748 votes for 'Sri Lanka's Killing Fields'. Polling is not yet over.
Al Khalifa tweeted urging those loyal to the government to vote against the film on Saturday.