Al-Jazeera expressed ”outrage” on Monday at Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari’s criticism of the satellite news channel’s coverage of Iraq and threats to close its Baghdad bureau.
”Al-Jazeera condemns this method of dealing with the press and considers the allegations and threats tantamount to incitement against the channel and its staff working in Iraq,” the station said in a statement.
”Al-Jazeera would have hoped the Iraqi government would embark on its new term with initiatives to lift media restrictions, not add new ones that would certainly not be conducive to freedom ofthe press and expression.”
The station was commenting on an interview it conducted with the Iraqi minister while on a visit to Moscow in which he attacked the ”deviant” way that the channel deals with events in Iraq.
In extracts of the interview aired on Monday, Zebari said Al-Jazeera as well as the Dubai-based Al-Arabiya, the Lebanese Hezbollah’s Al-Manar television and Iran’s Al-Alam are ”channels of incitement working against the interests, security and stability of the Iraqi people”.
”We will no longer tolerate this in the future,” said Zebari, adding that some members of Iraq’s interim government were calling for ”the closing down of Al-Jazeera” in Baghdad.
The Qatar-based channel responded that it ”holds the interim Iraqi government responsible for the security and safety of its staff in Iraq”.
Such ”allegations will not prevent the channel from pursuing its long-cherished editorial independence and [Al-Jazeera] reiterates its adherence to professional principles and internationally recognised media practices”, it added.
Al-Jazeera and its rival Al-Arabiya have been also criticised by the United States for alleged bias and for stoking anti-US sentiment. — Sapa-AFP