US Forces intimidate and censor Al-Jazeera in Iraq

US Forces Free Detained Al-Jazeera Reporter
Date: Tue, 29 Jul 2003 16:59:03 +1000
De: Dave Muller

The US forces in Iraq Monday set free an Arabic TV journalist after a
day of detention.

Nawfal Al-Shahwani, a reporter of the Arabic Al-Jazeera TV channel, was
held by US forces Sunday for filming a civil Iraqi car coming under the
heavy fire of a US patrol. The reporter was taken to hospital after
going on a hunger strike.

*Al-Jazeera Refutes Wolfowitz’s Accusations Of Biased Reporting*

* *

DOHA, July 29 (Oana/QNA) - The Arabic ’Al-Jazeera’ TV channel Monday
refuted the accusations made by the US Deputy Secretary of Defence Paul
Wolfowitz that the broadcaster was ’running false reports,’ saying that
it stands by its reports and accuses US officials of being misinformed.

’In an interview with Fox News on Sunday, Wolfowitz said that, ’’Al
Jazeera ran a totally false report that American troops had gone and
detained one of the key imams in the holy city of Najaf, Muktad Al Sadr
(sic). It was a false report, but they were out broadcasting it
instantly,’’ Al-Jazeerah recalled in its statement faxed to the Qatar
News Agency (QNA) on Monday.

’Al Jazeera never stated at any time that Muqtada As-Sadr was detained.
Our correspondent Yasser Abu Hilala, a reporter with thirteen years
experience reporting in the Middle East, stated he had received phone
calls from Muqtada Al-Sadr’s secretary and two of his top deputies
saying, the US forces surrounded the imam’s house after he called for
the formation of an Islamic army. The phone calls were not only made to
our offices but to all the offices of Al-Sadr’s followers in Baghdad
trigerring a massive demonstration in front of the republican palace
within 45 minutes, which we reported, along with the New York Times, CNN
and a host of others. When Mr. Abu Hilala attempted to contact the US
military’s public information center they did not even know about the
demonstration going on in their own backyard, let alone what was
happening in Najaf. When the US military finally got around to denying
the encirclement of Al Sadr’s home over 24 hours later, we duly reported
it,’ the statement said.

’Al Jazeera is accused of making outrageous and irresponsible statements
we never made at all. We attribute the incredibly poor understanding and
chronic misrepresentation of our reporting to the fact that almost no
one actually watches Al Jazeera because they do not understand classical
Arabic therefore they rely on information from 2nd, 3rd and 4th hand
sources - half truths and total falsehoods about our reporting then make
the rounds in Washington, Baghdad and elsewhere. In the past month
alone, Al Jazeera’s offices and staff in Iraq have been subject to
strafing by gunfire, death threats, confiscation of news material, and
multiple detentions and arrests, all carried out by US soldiers who have
never actually watched Al Jazeera but only heard about it,’ the
broadcaster explained.

’We can say that the mischaracterizations of our reporting made by Mr.
Wolfowitz and others are a form of incitement to violence against
Al-Jazeera, the first Arab television channel to practise professional
Western-style journalism free of the government censorship that is very
common in the rest of the Middle East,’ the broadcaster said.

’Clearly, Mr. Wolfowitz was not informed of the difference between the
(Arabic) word ’hisar’ - (embargo or encirclement) and ’’mu’taqal’’ -
(detained), and this misunderstanding resulted in the accusation of
fabrication. Al Jazeera requests a retraction of this statement by the
deputy secretary, and an apology,’ the statement said.

In its statement faxed to QNA, the broadcaster also refuted as untrue
the accusations of biased reporting made by the US Deputy Secretary of
Defense, pointing out that its reporters have been subject to various
sorts of pressure, including death threats, physical harassment and
expulsion because they dared to tell the truth.

It finally invited US officials and the media to visit its website on
the Internet to review Abu Hilala’s report on 19 July and decide for
themselves the objectivity of his reporting.

The archives of South News can be found at
http://southmovement.alphalink.com.au/southnews/