Al-Jazeera closure ’a blow to freedom’

by Lisa O’Carroll

The Iraq prime minister’s decision to throw al-Jazeera out of Baghdad and ban it from operating for 30 days is "a serious blow to press freedom", Reporters Sans Frontières has said.

The Paris-based media watchdog demanded "an immediate explanation" for the move on Saturday, saying it was "extremely concerned about persistent episodes of censorship in Iraq".

Police ordered al-Jazeera’s employees out of their newsroom and locked the door on Saturday night after the prime minister accused the pan-Arab satellite channel of inciting violence.

"They have been showing a lot of crimes and criminals on TV, and they [send] a bad picture about Iraq and about Iraqis and encourage criminals to increase their activities," Iraq’s interior minister, Falah al-Naqib, said.

Al-Naqib said the closure was intended to give the station "a chance to readjust their policy against Iraq".

Prime minister Ayad Allawi cited the hoax videotape broadcast by the channel on Saturday that appeared to show an American being beheaded as an example of the coverage he opposed.

"I am worried about these people," he said. "I am not worried about whether al-Jazeera will like it or not."

A spokesman for the channel today said it showed just eleven seconds of the hoaxter’s tape and went to great lengths afterwards to discuss how it had been duped by the American who had put the footage on the internet.

Mr Allawi brushed off criticism of the move, saying that the network’s coverage of kidnappings encouraged terrorists and that the immediate concerns of security for Iraqis were much more important.

He said he had based his decision on the findings of a commission, set up by the government to monitor al-Jazeera’s daily coverage

The prime minister, who spent years in exile in Britain, also said that he had asked an "independent panel" to "to see what kind of violence they [al-Jazeera] are advocating, inciting hatred and problems and racial tension."

An ominous violation of freedom

Al-Jazeera officials said the decision was an ominous violation of freedom of the press. Haider al-Mulla, a lawyer for al-Jazeera, said the channel would respect the closure decision but it would study legal options.

Mr al-Mullah said it had been asked to change its policy once the ban expired, but he indicated that this was unlikely to happen. "We said we have a firm principle and one policy that doesn’t change," he said.

In an extraordinary scene broadcast live by the station, senior police officials arrived at its Baghdad offices on Saturday evening and sat around a table drinking soft drinks with senior staff members as they calmly explained that they had to carry out the order.

The officers refused to leave the office before locking the newsroom and telling employees to go home. Crossing his wrists as if handcuffed, a police officer warned Mr al-Mullah against violating the closure decision.

Mr al-Mullah said the closure decision was unclear and objected to its phrasing. Scribbling on a piece of paper, the police said they had to execute the order anyway, asking al-Mullah to take his complaints to the Interior Ministry.

Second time it has been banned

This is the second time the channel has been banned from operating in Iraq. In February, its Baghdad offices were closed for a month by the then transitional Iraqi governing council because it had reportedly shown disrespect toward prominent Iraqis.

The Saudi Arabian channel al-Arabya was also ordered out of Baghdad in November and not allowed to resume operations until it promised in writing not to encourage terrorism.

A spokesman for the channel, Jihad Ballout, said today that it would seek to challenge the ban if there was "any legal recourse available" but it would not be signing any statement that it didn’t support terrorism.

"We don’t need to give anything in writing because we don’t support terrorism, that is a given. Gagging the media is not the way to deal with the media. If the request is that al Jazeera will compromise its independence, that is a request that will not be entertained," said Mr Billout.

"We will always cover a story and our independence is sacrosanct. We will not jeopardise or compromise that," he added.

The al-Jazeera English-language website today described the move as "regrettable" and said it "was contrary to pledges made by the Iraqi government to start a new era of free speech and openness".

Al-Jazeera has frequently been accused by US and Iraqi authorities of inciting violence by screening "exclusive" videotapes from Muslim extremists, including the al-Qaida leader, Osama bin Laden.

The US defence secretary, Donald Rumsfeld, has also accused both al-Jazeera and al-Arabya of harming the image of the United States in the Arab world.

During the war, the Americans were furious that al-Jazeera was able to broadcast from behind "enemy lines" without permission of coalition forces.

It was able to prove that Basra had not "fallen" as the coalition forces had claimed, because it had supplied locals with cameras and satellite phones before the war.

Through a network of what one of its senior journalists described as "collaborators" it was also able to show Americans in action after the war, often in a way the US forces did not like.

It showed that the Americans were continuing to bomb Fallujah after a truce had been declared.

In an Arab world rife with conspiracy theories, the decision to close the offices could reinforce the perception that decisions by Iraq’s interim government are influenced by the Americans, who have long complained about the channel’s coverage.

Government ministers in Iraq have grown increasingly critical of the television station in recent weeks.

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