DOHA: A former Egyptian information minister says he had ordered the closure of Aljazeera’s Egyptian channel in September 2011 during the transitional government after Honsi Mubarak’s fall since it had no licence to operate and had become a voice of Muslim Brotherhood.
“Aljazeera Mubashar (Live) Egypt was canvassing for Mohammed Mursi (who is from the Brotherhood). It was garnering public support for him,” said Osama Haikal, who was information minister in Egypt’s transitional government after Mubarak’s ouster.
“I simply applied the law. The Channel had no license to operate in Egypt,” Haikal told Egypt’s Al Tahrir TV channel in an interview.
Aljazeera Mubashar resumed its operations after Mursi rode to power and its studio that looks down right at Tahrir Square was attacked and ransacked on November 22 this year by anti-Mursi protesters. Although no one was injured in the attack, three people had been charged for the crime. While two of them have been booked, one is still at large.
Meanwhile, in a series of interviews to Egyptian TV station CBC (Capital Broadcasting Centre) one of Egypt’s most respected journalists, Mohamed Hasnain Haikal, said he was not in favor of foreign TV stations setting up channels devoted entirely to Egypt.
“I will never accept Aljazeera Mubashar operating in our midst,” Haikal told CBC in part three of his interview series aired last Thursday. “I am not against media freedom, but you cannot expect a foreign media organization having a foothold in Egypt to serve Egypt’s interests.”
He said Saudi Arabia had three radio stations in Egypt and that his view on the issue was the same as it was on Aljazeera Mubashar.
Haikal who appeared on a weekly Aljazeera show, said he raised the issue with Sheikh Hamad bin Thamer Al Thani, chairman of the board of directors of Aljazeera Network.
The interviewer told Haikal no wonder Aljazeera Mubashar was so influential that it accessed breaking news in Egypt even before the state news agency had an inkling of what’s going on.
The Peninsula
