Morocco suspends Aljazeera broadcast operations

09/05/2008

The Moroccan government has told Aljazeera to cease broadcasting from the satellite channel's Rabat bureau until legal issues are resolved. Press freedom groups say the issue is about politics, not administrative technicalities.

Sarah Touahri contributed to this report for Magharebia in Rabat – 09/05/08

[Sarah Touahri] After broadcasting news to the Maghreb for more than a year, Qatari channel Aljazeera's Rabat bureau received a fax from Moroccan authorities suspending its land and satellite transmissions beginning Tuesday (May 6th).

Qatari satellite TV news channel Aljazeera was ordered by Moroccan officials on Tuesday (May 6th) to cease broadcast operations from its Rabat studios. The pan-Arab news station aired daily news bulletins on the Maghreb.

Aljazeera's Rabat bureau chief Hassan Rachidi said he received a fax from the National Agency for Telecom Regulation (ANRT) announcing the ban on the use of all land and satellite transmitters. "There had been no indication that such a ban was on its way. We had never received a single official warning about what we were doing," he said.

According to Communications Minister Khalid Naciri, the channel's broadcast has been suspended pending the regularisation of the channel’s legal status. He went on to explain that the television channel’s bureau will remain open and its correspondents will continue to work freely.

"The reason behind the suspension is technical. Aljazeera must regularise its legal and technical position with the High Authority for Audiovisual Communications. Broadcasting of this Maghreb news bulletin from Rabat will start up again once the specifications have been clarified with the HACA," he said.

After being granted accreditation under Morocco's system for foreign correspondents and press agencies, Aljazeera opened its Rabat bureau in 2003. Three years later, it began broadcasting a television news programme for Maghreb countries from the Moroccan capital.

To the Moroccan government, the action changed the channel's status in the Kingdom from a simple news bureau to a broadcast entity in its own right. The Rabat-originated news also triggered questions about Aljazeera's compliance with Moroccan laws on the audiovisual industry. The channel has been issued a series of three-month provisional licences but has yet to definitively sort out its position with the HACA.

Administrators at Aljazeera's Rabat bureau expressed their surprise at the government's decision.

"We created a new space for news reporting where none existed before," Rachidi told Reporters Without Borders. "Thanks to this daily news programme, the public in the Maghreb began taking an interest in what is going on in neighbouring countries," Rachidi added.

In statements issued on Wednesday (May 8th), press freedom organisations suggested that Aljazeera operations were suspended because the station aired comments from Egyptian journalist Hassanein Heykal about Morocco's late King Hassan II.

"Aljazeera has been broadcasting its special program on the Maghreb for the past year and a half without any difficulty. The suddenness of this measure and the lack of a valid reason suggest that it was a political decision," Reporters Without Borders wrote.

The Committee to Protect Journalists concurred, stating, "This sudden decision without any semblance of due process is of great concern. We urge Moroccan authorities to allow Aljazeera to broadcast from Rabat without interference."

International relations professor Mourad Berrada said the ban on the news bulletin is the result of growing attention being paid to the way in which Morocco is covered in the media: "Morocco is under the microscope, since the channel’s bureau is on Moroccan soil. Sometimes, they cross the line, and the authorities don’t like that. The technical aspect is just an excuse to put pressure on the channel."

Many Moroccan viewers have expressed disappointment that the much-watched news programmes have been banned.

"We were proud when Morocco allowed an Aljazeera bureau to open in Rabat when the other Maghreb countries had refused. This was a sign of freedom and openness to the media. But I can’t understand this recent decision," student Amine Benabbou told Magharebia.

"Moroccan officials must realise that the Moroccan people know how to sort through the news they hear on the different channels," he added.