Al Jazeera's Troubling Days, Arash Irani - 2003-12-23

A senior Qatari official announced on Friday that during the upcoming summit of the Gulf Cooperation Council leaders, Kuwait will be asked to allow the resumption of Al Jazeera's operations in the country. The Kuwaiti government closed the Al Jazeera office in November of last year, citing the network's unfavorable coverage of the U.S. military buildup in Kuwait for the invasion of Iraq as the reason for the closure. Previously, in March 2001, a Kuwaiti court had ordered the network to pay a fine of 5,001 Kuwaiti dinars (approximately $15,000) following a collective complaint from citizens regarding insults made by Al Jazeera presenter Sami Haddad towards the people of Kuwait. Al Jazeera broadcasts from Qatar and has a large audience in various countries, especially in the Arab world. According to the Islamic Republic News Agency (IRNA), Sudanese authorities also closed Al Jazeera's office on Friday and arrested a reporter from the network for broadcasting false information. The official Sudanese news agency Suna reported a statement from the country's National Security Office stating that Al Jazeera had prepared and broadcast programs containing false information, distorted analyses, and related images through its office in Khartoum and reporter Islam Saleh. The statement mentioned reports about victims of tuberculosis, mines in Sudan, and incidents in the Darfur region. Meanwhile, the Sudanese Security Organization's information office denied reports of police raids on Al Jazeera's office in Khartoum and the seizure of its property, stating that the Sudanese customs police only confiscated a direct broadcast television device belonging to Al Jazeera. The Sudanese police considered such customs actions as normal and routine, aimed at ensuring the accuracy of the specifications recorded on imported devices and goods. However, Al Jazeera reported last Wednesday night that Sudanese police had collected satellite equipment and inspected the network's office in Khartoum.