Authorities let Al-Arabiya go back to work in Baghdad

Reporters Without Borders today hailed the reopening of the Baghdad bureau of the satellite TV station Al-Arabiya on 6 October. The Iraqi government had ordered it to stop working on 7 August for inciting “sectarianism” and “violence.” -------------------------------------------------------------------------- 08.10.2006 Government orders Al-Arabiya's Baghdad bureau closed for one month Reporters Without Borders today condemned an Iraqi government order issued yesterday instructing the Dubai-based satellite TV news station Al-Arabiya to close down its operations in Baghdad for one month. Police were sent to the station's Baghdad offices to enforce the closure without any clear explanation at first being given for the decision. The government finally issued a statement accusing Al-Arabiya of inciting “sectarianism” and “violence,” adding that the station was warned in July to rectify its coverage but it continued on the same course. “This ban is regrettable as Iraqis above all need access to freely-reported news,” Reporters Without Borders said. “We know it is sometimes hard for the Iraqi authorities to tolerate the comments made by Arabic-language stations such as Al-Arabiya and Al-Jazeera, which can be very critical of the government.” An Al-Arabiya spokesman insisted that its coverage was “professional, balanced and based on the importance of the news” and said that it was because of its professionalism that 11 of its journalists have been killed while covering the war in Iraq. Al-Arabiya was already ordered to stop working in Iraq in November 2003 for inciting violence, after it broadcast a recording of a person said to have been Saddam Hussein who called for attacks on interim government members. The Baghdad bureau of the Qatar-based TV station Al-Jazeera has been closed on the Iraqi government's orders since August 2005.