Paul Michaud, Special to Arab News

PARIS, 5 February 2004 — The international journalists’ rights organization, Reporters Sans Frontiers (RSF), has “strongly condemned” Iraq’s Governing Council for banning the Arabic TV network Al-Jazeera from reporting on the council’s activities for a month from Jan. 28. “Boycotting the media and giving in to the temptation to censor it is not the way to escape criticism,” said RSF’s secretary-general, Robert Menard. “Despite the council’s problems, this move is counter-productive and will only delay the creation of an atmosphere of trust which will foster press freedom.”

Al-Jazeera said the measure announced on Jan.31 followed comments by a viewer about the Iraq situation during the phone-in program “Opposite Directions.” Council spokeswoman Marouj Haider said Al-Jazeera had shown “disrespect to Iraq and its people” and to prominent religious and political leaders. According to RSF, Al-Jazeera also said that on Jan. 31 it had tried to cover council president Adnan Pachachi but its journalists were turned away.

RSF expressed surprise at the banning which came only a few days after the council had allowed another Arab satellite station, Al-Arabiya, to resume its activities in Iraq after a two-month ban. The council banned both Al-Jazeera and Al-Arabiya on Sept. 23 from covering its activities and all official events for two weeks for allegedly encouraging political violence and the murder of council members and US and British troops. The move followed an assassination attempt three days earlier on council member Akila Al-Hashimi.