(RSF/IFEX) – On 4 November 2002, RSF condemned the Kuwaiti government’s closure of the local office of the Qatar-based regional television station Al-Jazeera. The organisation said it was proof of the “contempt many Arab governments have for press freedom.” The Kuwaiti Information Ministry ordered the office’s closure on 3 November, one day after the station […]
(RSF/IFEX) – On 4 November 2002, RSF condemned the Kuwaiti government’s closure of the local office of the Qatar-based regional television station Al-Jazeera. The organisation said it was proof of the “contempt many Arab governments have for press freedom.”
The Kuwaiti Information Ministry ordered the office’s closure on 3 November, one day after the station broadcast a news item that reported that one quarter of Kuwait’s territory (in the country’s north) had been sealed off to allow joint United States-Kuwaiti military exercises to take place there. The government said the report harmed the country’s interests, while Al-Jazeera editors insisted the report was “objective and impartial.”
“Arab leaders’ frequent bans and threats aimed at the station clearly demonstrate their unshakeable solidarity when it comes to contempt for press freedom,” said RSF Secretary-General Robert Ménard. “The Gulf emirates in particular display their contempt for their own citizens by denying their right to free and balanced news, and feeding them official propaganda,” he said. Ménard also called for the cancellation of the decision to close the station.
In early October, information ministers from Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Oman attending a meeting of the regional Gulf Cooperation Council in Muscat, Oman, accused Al-Jazeera of “insulting and defaming” their countries (see IFEX alert of 11 October 2002). They called on governments to cease providing information to Al-Jazeera and urged public and private sectors to cut all commercial and advertising links to the station.
The Al-Jazeera office in Kuwait was previously closed in June 1999, after an Iraqi caller insulted the country’s emir during a live broadcast (see IFEX alert of 23 June 1999).
The satellite station, founded in 1996, irritates Arab leaders because it gives air-time to their opponents and to ordinary viewers and airs programmes in which taboo political and social issues are discussed. Relations between Jordan and Qatar have been tense in recent months, since Jordan accused Al-Jazeera of stirring up unrest in the country and insulting the royal family. The station’s Amman office was briefly shut down in August (see IFEX alert of 8 August 2002).
