Attempt to Close Al-Jazeera Is an Attack on Freedom of Expression, U.N. Says
The United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights is reportedly "extremely concerned" by four neighboring countries' demand that Qatar shut down the television news network.
By Juan Cole / Informed Comment
Reuters reports that U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Ra’ad al-Hussein is “extremely concerned by the demand that Qatar close down the Al Jazeera network, as well as other affiliated media outlets.”
The statement was released by UNCHR spokesman Rupert Colville.
Colville added:
Whether or not you watch it, like it, or agree with its editorial standpoints, Al Jazeera’s Arabic and English channels are legitimate, and have many millions of viewers. The demand that they be summarily closed down is, in our view, an unacceptable attack on the right to freedom of expression and opinion.
Journalists have also weighed in on the controversy. Yasser Mahjub al-Ansari writes in al-Sharq that the boycott placed on Qatar by Saudi Arabia and others is a human rights violation in international law and has nothing to do with combating terrorism.
The demand for the closure of Al-Jazeera, he said, is an attack on Qatar’s national sovereignty. The channel has become part of Qatar’s grand strategy, and asking them to close it down is like asking Switzerland to close its banks. Moreover, its Arab and Western viewership has come to depend on it; Saudi and the others are intervening in someone else’s relationship.
He quotes Egyptian journalist Muhammad Hussein Haikal that Al-Jazeera being the best known brand in Arabic language news.
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Middle East
Seen as a dry run for a similar deal with Saudi Arabia, such arrangements are more likely to further destabilize the region.
After abruptly withdrawing from Syria, the president reportedly is considering deploying an additional 14,000 soldiers to counter Iran.
The U.S. has aligned itself with some of the worst actors in the Middle East. We'll be living with the consequences for years to come.
In his new book "Fire and Fury," Michael Wolff makes a number of allegations about the U.S. president's role in the Gulf crisis that, if true, help explain the mess in that part of the Middle East.
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