Al-Jazeera Reporters Banned from Iran

[cal04]

Iran today suspended operations of Arab TV broadcaster Al-Jazeera throughout the country, accusing it of inflaming violent protests by the Arab minority in south west. The government said two more protesters died in the unrest, bringing the three-day toll to three dead and at least eight injured in Khuzistan province on Iran’s border with Iraq.

“The situation is under control in Khuzistan province right now,” said Interior Ministry Jahanbakhsh Khanjani. ”The province is calm in general but unfortunately two people were killed during last night’s violence in Mahshahr.” Mahshahr is 50 miles south east of Ahvaz, an oil-rich city where violent demonstrations erupted last Friday and Saturday after rumours spread of an alleged government plan to move non-Arabs into the city.

Al-Jazeera, which is popular among Iran’s Arab-speaking minority, is believed to have been the first to broadcast news of the unrest. The station’s commentators discussed the clashes on talk shows as well. Tehran today ordered the station to cease operations until the network explained the motives behind its coverage.

“If it is proved that Al-Jazeera committed a crime, it will be prosecuted,” Mohammad Hossein Khoshvaght, an official at Iran’s Culture and Islamic Guidance Ministry, said. “We suspended its activity in Iran to investigate the network’s role in unrest in Ahvaz,” Khoshvaght said. “We expect the network to respect Iran’s national integrity and security.” Jihad Ballout, an Al-Jazeera spokesman in Doha, Qatar, said he had heard media reports of the ban but the station had not yet received official notification.

http://news.scotsman.com/latest.cfm?id=4419124

[Mojorabbit]

1. Can't report

anything unless the gov approves eh.

[NNN0LHI]

8. Al-Jazeera is bankrolled by the Qatar government

Qatar is the home of the US central command and also the US Navy's 5th fleet. Nothing is reported by Al-Jazeera without the tacit approval of the Qatar government. Never trust Al-Jazeera. They only report what the US allows them to report.

Don

[oblivious]

16. I'm glad to hear someone come out and say it.

Al-Jazeera is owned by the emir of Qatar. The US is his protector. He is their poodle.

[NNN0LHI]

18. Thank you n/t

[stevedeshazer]

17. And you think that might have an influence on their reporting?

Uh, hell yeah...

Point well taken.

[NNN0LHI]

19. This thread would have had dozens of posts to it with comments...

...about the lack of a free press in Iran had I not mentioned the truth about Al-Jazeera. Now that the cat is out of the bag it just keeps falling on down the board. Wonder why that is?

Don

[stevedeshazer]

20. Folks don't want to hear it

It contradicts what they already believe, that al-Jazeera is something other than what it is, another media branch of the US government.

And, being "kicked out" of Iran is just part of the buildup to our planned invasion in June.

We'll have troops there in 6-8 weeks, if we don't already.

:kick:

[leftofcool]

2. Might as well be that way in the US...............

considering that 90% of the MSM is nothing but unpaid employees of the DOD (according to George Carlin).........and if the the guvmt isn't telling reporters what to say, their right-wing facist CEO's sure as hell are.

Left of Cool

[0rganism]

3. Pretty much the same thing the occupation wanted to do in Iraq

...for the same reasons, too.

Nice to know the Iranian and American governments can agree on some things, eh?

[NYC Liberal]

5. Actually they DID shut down a newspaper:

http://www.sptimes.com/2005/04/03/Worldandnation/From_contractors_to_c.shtml

[cal04]

4. Aljazeera regrets Iran suspension

Aljazeera has regretted Iran's move to temporarily suspend the Arabic television broadcaster's operations in the country. Iran suspended nationwide operations of Aljazeera on Monday, accusing it of inflaming violent protests by Iran's Arab minority in southwestern Iran, state-run TV reported.

Reacting to the move, Aljazeera spokesman Jihad Ballout said the broadcaster's Tehran bureau "was advised verbally that its professional activities are temporarily suspended." "While Aljazeera Channel regrets this unexpected and unwarranted decision, it reiterates its intention to continue to be guided in its editorial policy by its ever present professional ethos 'the opinion and the other opinion' enshrined in its Code of Professional Ethics," Ballout said in a statement.

"Aljazeera further assures its audience that it will continue to cover Iranian affairs objectively, comprehensively and in a balanced way, and calls on the relevant Iranian authorities to reconsider the decision to suspend its bureau’s activities."

http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/EEFB68E6-6C71-477B-AC76-B7D912201EF4.htm

[fbahrami]

6. more proof

that AJ is a decent reporting house.

Anyone who saw "Control Room" knows what I mean.

I admit that even I had begun to think of AJ as partisan (as a result of US propoganda) - fortunately the movie opened my eyes.

Of course having lived in Iran (pre and post Shah) I know that AJ would never be welcome :-(

[Rockerdem]

7. al Jazeera seems somewhat different these days.

I dont read everything they feature on their site, let alone see any broadcasts. But my impression is that they have begun to mimic some of our MSM more and more, in many of the stories that I catch. They seem to be straining to be "acceptable" for wider consumption. I wish I could cite chapter and verse, but to me, they are beginning to ape some of our media's most bothersome habits. Hanging around pools of our reporters in Iraq and around the world is rubbing off, I fear, and not all of it is admirable. Again, just my impression.

[oblivious]

15. That's because so many of their stories are from AP and AFP.

Same sources as American papers.

[NNN0LHI]

9. See post # 8 n/t

[NNN0LHI]

10. kick

[democratic]

11. Iran bans Al-Jaazera

http://www.guardian.co.uk/worldlatest/story/0,1280,-4945868,00.html

Monday April 18, 2005 8:46 PM

NASSER KARIMI

Associated Press Writer

TEHRAN, Iran (AP) - Iran suspended the nationwide operations of Arab TV broadcaster Al-Jazeera on Monday, accusing it of inflaming violent protests by the Arab minority in its southwest, state-run TV reported.

Also, the government said two more protesters died in the unrest in Khuzistan province along the border with Iraq, raising the three-day toll to three dead and at least eight injured.

Mahshahr is 50 miles southeast of Ahvaz, an oil-rich city where violent demonstrations erupted Friday and Saturday after rumors spread of an alleged government plan to move non-Arabs into the city.

The station, owned by the Qatari government since its start in 1996, is believed to have the Arab world's biggest market share, estimated at 35 million people. Few people in Farsi-speaking Iran watch Al-Jazeera.

A group of Iranian legislators and journalists asked Iran's media watchdog Monday to review Al-Jazeera's role in inflaming ethnic disputes, state-run radio reported.

Arabs make up just 3 percent of Iran's population. Persians account for 51 percent of its 69 million people.

[Clovis Sangrail]

12. "the enemy of my enemy...."

does this mean all the yayhoos have to like al-jazeera now?

[Gloria]

13. More info here...possible Britain-based opposition group involved...

wonder if Bushco is funding them????


1//The Daily Star, Lebanon Monday, April 18, 2005

http://www.dailystar.com.lb/article.asp?edition_id=10&categ_id=2&article_id=14348



CALM RETURNS TO IRANIAN CITY AFTER VIOLENT PROTESTS

Compiled by Daily Star staff

The predominantly Arab city of Ahvaz in Iran was calm Sunday, with anti-riot police cruising the streets after two days of violent demonstrations. At least one demonstrator died and eight others were wounded in the protests, sparked by rumors that Tehran planned to decrease the proportion of Arabs in the oil-rich area near the Iraqi border.



(SNIP)



The fracas started Friday after hundreds of Arab residents of Ahvaz, the capital of Khuzestan Province, gathered to chant slogans against an alleged government plan to move more non-Arabs into the city.



The protests turned violent as people set fire to banks and police stations. Police made more than 250 arrests.

SNIP

Iran's official IRNA news agency said a forged letter calling for a plan to relocate non-Arabs to the city to make them the majority population had started the fighting, which it said was limited to Ahvaz.



A local official said the letter was attributed to former Vice President Mohammad Ali Abtahi and dated from when he ran President Mohammad Khatami's office.



But Abtahi denied on his Web site that he was behind the letter, which reportedly said that "Arabs must emigrate, Arab names of towns and villages must become Persian ."



"Good friends have told me that people are trying to provoke ethnic violence in the province," Abtahi said on the Web site, adding that neither he nor anyone else had the power to change the ethnic composition of an area.



Al-Jazeera television said the London-based Popular Democratic Front of Ahvazi Arabs in Iran had called for demonstrations in the area "to mark 80 years of Iranian occupation."



(MORE)

[wellst0nev0ter]

21. It's Nice To Know That The U.S. And Iran Can Break Bread

Over their mutual hatred of Al-Jazeera.

[NNN0LHI]

22. The US govenment doesn't hate Al-Jazeera. See post # 8 n/t

[democratic]

14. Iran bans Al-Jaazera

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