|
U.S. Bans Live Bin Laden Broadcasts as Kuwait Seizes Al-Jazeera Property
KUWAIT CITY, Oct 10 (IslamOnline & News Agencies) - Major U.S. television networks agreed Wednesday to ban live broadcasts of messages from Osama bin Laden following talks with the White House, as a Kuwait court took the first step Wednesday towards seizing the property of Qatar's Al-Jazeera satellite television channel in Kuwait.
Actions against Al-Jazeera came after it "failed to pay compensation for accusing Kuwaitis of killing Palestinians and Iraqis at the end of the 1991 Gulf War," Agence France-Presse (AFP) reported.
Separate statements issued by ABC, CBS, NBC, Fox and the Cable News Network (CNN) said the organizations would review any statements made by bin Laden or members of his al-Qa'eda network before deciding whether to put them on the air.
The decision followed a conference call involving members of the news organizations and U.S. National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice.
"NBC and the other networks' news divisions agree that we will not air any pre-recorded messages from al-Qa'eda without screening them in their entirety first," said a statement from NBC.
ABC said Rice expressed concern during the conference call that bin Laden could be using the messages to communicate hidden messages to members of his network.
"Dr. Rice made no specific request of news organizations, other than that we consider the possible existence of such messages in deciding whether and how to air portions of al-Qa'eda statements," ABC said.
CNN, which has broadcast live satellite feeds of statements from bin Laden and his spokesman from the Qatar-based al-Jazeera television network, said it would not air any material that could "directly facilitate any terrorist acts."
The White House warned Wednesday that bin Laden may be using videotaped statements to order his followers to kill Americans.
Kuwait's move comes on the heels of U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell's demand that Al-Jazeera's coverage be censored.
The Qatar based news agency has enjoyed increased publicity in the wake of the secretary's comments, and has an exclusivity clause with the U.S.'s CNN, which allowed for the American news agency to broadcast the tape of bin Laden's speech following U.S. attacks on Afghanistan, and footage of the ongoing war.
Al-Jazeera has also come under attack by its Arab neighbors for its free speech policies, which allow for objective reports, including criticism of Arab and other regimes.
In Kuwait, "An officer from the court came to our office, along with a policeman and a representative of those who filed the lawsuit, and took an inventory of everything in the office," Al-Jazeera's Kuwait bureau chief, Saad Al-Enezi, told AFP.
Kuwaiti lawyer Salah al-Hashem filed the case in September 2000 on behalf of 22 Kuwaitis, demanding 5,000 dinars ($16,000) as provisional compensation for what Hashem called "devastating moral harm caused to all Kuwaitis."
Hashem said that during a political program on August 4th, interviewer Sami Haddad said that Kuwaitis killed many Palestinians, Iraqis and even fellow countrymen they suspected of collaborating with the Iraqis, by throwing acid on them in February 1991.
"They have set November 6th as the date to auction off all our property, which they only estimated at 950 dinars ($3,040)," Al-Enezi said.
Al-Jazeera, which has found world fame for its exclusive reports from Kabul this week, has appealed the guilty verdict and a hearing was expected October 30th, which precedes the sell off date, Enezi said.
"So it's still possible our property won't be auctioned off," he added.
"The people I represent, not Al-Jazeera, will decide when we sell off the property," Hashem told AFP. "And the appeal is only a hearing. A verdict will not be issued," the lawyer insisted.
"Why are they refusing to pay the fine when it's the final judgment by a court of law?" Hashem said.
Iraq invaded and occupied the oil-rich emirate in August 1990 before being driven out seven months later by a U.S.-led international coalition.
Atrocities and killings were reportedly committed in the first few days after liberation before government forces entered the emirate and restored order.
Hashem has said that any damages from the station will be donated to the National Committee for Missing and POWs.
|
