Iraqi authorities announced on Sunday that they had revoked the operating licences of pan-Arab broadcaster Al-Jazeera and nine other satellite TV channels, alleging that they are promoting a sectarian agenda as the country grapples with a wave of violence.
The move, effective immediately, comes as Baghdad tries to quell rising unrest in the country following clashes at a protest camp last week.
More than 180 people have been killed in gunbattles with security forces and other attacks since the unrest began on Tuesday. The violence follows more than four months of largely peaceful protests by Iraq’s Sunni Muslim minority against the Shiite-dominated Government. Al-Jazeera, based in the small, energy-rich Gulf nation of Qatar, said it was “astonished” by the move.
“We cover all sides of the stories in Iraq, and have done for many years. The fact that so many channels have been hit all at once though suggests this is an indiscriminate decision,” it said in an emailed statement.
“We urge the authorities to uphold freedom for the media to report the important stories taking place in Iraq,” it added.
The channel has aggressively covered the “Arab Spring” uprisings across the region, and has broadcast extensively on the civil war in neighboring Syria. Qatar itself is a harsh critic of the Syrian regime and a leading backer of the rebels, and is accused by many supporters of Iraq’s Shiite-led Government of backing protests in Iraq too.
Iraq and other Governments across the Middle East have temporarily shut down Al-Jazeera’s offices in the past because they were disgruntled by its coverage. The other nine channels whose licences were suspended by Iraq’s Commu
nications and Media Commission are al-Sharqiya and al-Sharqiya News, which frequently criticise the Government, and seven smaller local channels — Salahuddin, Fallujah, Taghyeer, Baghdad, Babiliya, Anwar 2 and al-Gharbiya.
In a statement posted on its website, the commission blamed the banned stations for the escalation of a sectarian backdrop that is fueling the violence that followed the deadly clashes at the Hawija camp on Tuesday.