(RSF/IFEX) – RSF has condemned recent comments made by Iraqi Defence Minister Hazem Shaalan in an interview with an Arabic-language newspaper in which he accused the Qatar-based pan-Arab television station Al-Jazeera of being a “terrorist station.” RSF noted that it has often criticised the Iraqi interim government’s decision, more than three months ago, to close […]
(RSF/IFEX) – RSF has condemned recent comments made by Iraqi Defence Minister Hazem Shaalan in an interview with an Arabic-language newspaper in which he accused the Qatar-based pan-Arab television station Al-Jazeera of being a “terrorist station.”
RSF noted that it has often criticised the Iraqi interim government’s decision, more than three months ago, to close Al-Jazeera’s bureau in the country. “The authorities have a right to disapprove of the station’s editorial choices, but recourse to a ban and verbal threats hark back to the past and violate the promises to establish a democracy in Iraq,” the organisation said.
In an interview published in the 23 November 2004 edition of the daily “Asharq Al-Awsat”, Shaalan accused Al-Jazeera of continuing to operate in Iraq “secretly [and] in violation of the law.” “Al-Jazeera is a terrorist television station. That is clear, and we say it openly and without hesitation – Al-Jazeera is a terrorist television station,” the defence minister said.
“May God curse all those who terrorise Iraqi citizens and Iraq’s children, whether they are journalists or others. The day will come when we deal with Al-Jazeera in other ways than with words,” Shaalan threatened.
The minister’s “irresponsible allegations and the incredibly bellicose tone of his remarks exceed all limits,” RSF said. “They are very alarming because they unfortunately indicate a growing hostility on the part of the authorities towards the media.”
The organisation also noted that, before American and Iraqi forces began their offensive against the Sunni rebel city of Fallujah on 8 November, the authorities instructed the media to present the government’s position and banned “patriotic treatment of the murderers and criminals.” Media were threatened with unspecified sanctions if they did not comply with the directive.
In his interview, Shaalan also alleged that Omar Hadid, “a terrorist . . . with links to Al-Qaeda,” was the brother of Al-Jazeera’s bureau chief in Iraq, Hamed Hadid, to whom “he sent video footage showing the beheading of citizens in Fallujah.” Al-Jazeera denied the allegation, saying its Baghdad bureau chief “affirms that he has no family ties with the said Omar Hadid.”
