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Egypt closes Al-Jazeera press bureau
Egypt has withdrawn the licence to broadcast of rolling news channel Al-Jazeera and shut down its Ca
By Press Gazette Published 31 January 2011
The state-run Middle East News Agency (MENA) reported that the order took effect from yesterday.
Transmission ended around an hour after that announcement and as troubles escalated the BBC World Service condemned "deliberate assaults" on its journalists.
An Al Jazeera spokesman said that the company would continue its strong coverage regardless.
"Al Jazeera sees this as an act designed to stifle and repress the freedom of reporting by the network and its journalists," the broadcaster said in a statement.
The move to close Al Jazeera brought immediate condemnation from journalistic organisations across the globe, including from the Association for International Broadcasting, the Committee to Protect Journalists and Reporters Without Borders.
"This totally archaic decision is completely in contradiction with President Hosni Mubarak's promise of 'democratic' measures on 28 January,"reporters Without Borders secretary-general Jean-François Julliard said.
The move to block Al-Jazeera came as violent protests on the streets of Cairo against the 30 year reign of President Hosni Mubarak stretched into a seventh day.
Tags: Egypt
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1 comment
Only the City speculator rejoice at the events unfolding in Egypt...sadly! The price of oil is going up once more, lining their pockets in exponential proportion! I should rejoice at a 'popular' democratic uprising....yes..I should...but I'm afraid that seeing protester asking for lower flour and bread prices but also chanting 'Allah akhbar' worries me a great deal. This could (& in my view probably will) be railroaded by the islamist movement and Egypt will end up with a 'Hamas type' government, and we know how democratic, open minded and tolerant that lot really is !