Qatari-owned news channel al-Jazeera has launched legal action against the Egyptian authorities, saying that its journalists have been detained without charge and attacked, its London-based lawyers announced yesterday.
It had asked renowned legal firm Carter-Ruck, a specialist in international law, to take action in the international courts and before the UN over accusations of harassment, the network said.
Since former Egyptian president Mohamed Morsi was overthrown on July 3, al-Jazeera says that “a large number” of its journalists have been arrested and detained by the security services “either without charge or on spurious and politically motivated charges.”
It also accuses the military and police of attacking its journalists and says that some of its offices have been closed and its transmissions jammed.
The network said earlier this month that its satellite signals had been blocked in the wake of its critical coverage of Cairo’s crackdown on Islamists.
“Independent experts” were used by al-Jazeera to determine where the jamming was coming from, the network said on its Web site.
Trackers identified locations east and west of Cairo, and specifically identified military installations as the source of interference, it said.
“Al-Jazeera cannot permit this situation to continue,” a network spokesman said in a statement released by its legal team. “The right of journalists to report freely in situations of this kind is protected by international law and is reaffirmed by UN Security Council Resolution 1738.”
“Al-Jazeera has instructed its lawyers to take all steps necessary worldwide to ensure that its journalists can operate freely in the country, without fear of arbitrary arrest, jamming or other forms of harassment and intimidation,” he added.
The network said that authorities were trying to silence dissenting voices so that “only the voices of its state-controlled media” could be heard.
Egyptian authorities and local media have accused al-Jazeera of biased reporting of the popularly backed coup that toppled Islamist Morsi. The network has given wide coverage to demonstrations that followed Morsi’s arrest and the crackdown on Muslim Brotherhood protesters.
Al-Jazeera has previously complained that the security forces raided its Cairo offices.
BACKLASH: The National Party quit its decades-long partnership with the Liberal Party after their election loss to center-left Labor, which won a historic third term Australia’s National Party has split from its conservative coalition partner of more than 60 years, the Liberal Party, citing policy differences over renewable energy and after a resounding loss at a national election this month. “Its time to have a break,” Nationals leader David Littleproud told reporters yesterday. The split shows the pressure on Australia’s conservative parties after Prime Minister Anthony Albanese’s center-left Labor party won a historic second term in the May 3 election, powered by a voter backlash against US President Donald Trump’s policies. Under the long-standing partnership in state and federal politics, the Liberal and National coalition had shared power
NO EXCUSES: Marcos said his administration was acting on voters’ demands, but an academic said the move was emotionally motivated after a poor midterm showing Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr yesterday sought the resignation of all his Cabinet secretaries, in a move seen as an attempt to reset the political agenda and assert his authority over the second half of his single six-year term. The order came after the president’s allies failed to win a majority of Senate seats contested in the 12 polls on Monday last week, leaving Marcos facing a divided political and legislative landscape that could thwart his attempts to have an ally succeed him in 2028. “He’s talking to the people, trying to salvage whatever political capital he has left. I think it’s
CONTROVERSY: During the performance of Israel’s entrant Yuval Raphael’s song ‘New Day Will Rise,’ loud whistles were heard and two people tried to get on stage Austria’s JJ yesterday won the Eurovision Song Contest, with his operatic song Wasted Love triumphing at the world’s biggest live music television event. After votes from national juries around Europe and viewers from across the continent and beyond, JJ gave Austria its first victory since bearded drag performer Conchita Wurst’s 2014 triumph. After the nail-biting drama as the votes were revealed running into yesterday morning, Austria finished with 436 points, ahead of Israel — whose participation drew protests — on 357 and Estonia on 356. “Thank you to you, Europe, for making my dreams come true,” 24-year-old countertenor JJ, whose
UNSCHEDULED VISIT: ‘It’s a very bulky new neighbor, but it will soon go away,’ said Johan Helberg of the 135m container ship that run aground near his house A man in Norway awoke early on Thursday to discover a huge container ship had run aground a stone’s throw from his fjord-side house — and he had slept through the commotion. For an as-yet unknown reason, the 135m NCL Salten sailed up onto shore just meters from Johan Helberg’s house in a fjord near Trondheim in central Norway. Helberg only discovered the unexpected visitor when a panicked neighbor who had rung his doorbell repeatedly to no avail gave up and called him on the phone. “The doorbell rang at a time of day when I don’t like to open,” Helberg told television
RSS