Bahrain closes down Saudi prince’s al-Arab news channel
Bahraini authorities have ordered the closure of a pan-Arab satellite news channel owned by Saudi Prince al-Waleed bin Talal, on grounds that it lacks necessary permits.
“It has been decided to halt the activities of al-Arab, the channel not having received the necessary permits,” Bahrain’s Information Affairs Authority said in a statement released on Monday.
Al-Arab news channel started broadcasting at 1300 GMT on February 1, and its lead story was about Japanese freelance journalist, Kenji Goto, whom the ISIL Takfiri terrorists claimed in a video to have decapitated.
The Manama-based satellite news station experienced unexpected suspension just hours after it broadcast an interview with Khalil al-Marzooq, an aide to Sheik Ali Salman, the detained secretary general of al-Wefaq National Islamic Society, which is Bahrain’s main opposition party.
The channel, however, blamed technical problems for the suspension, without giving details.
“Broadcast stopped for technical and administrative reasons. We will be back soon, inshallah (God willing),” the news channel wrote on its Twitter feed.
Bin Talal established the channel to challenge leading networks broadcasting in the Middle East, above all Al-Jazeera and Al-Arabiya. Both channels have been criticized for spreading their owners’ political views, mainly during the 2011 wave of the Islamic Awakening, which swept through the Middle East and North Africa, and toppled autocratic rulers such as Egypt’s Hosni Mubarak.
The 59-year-old Saudi business magnate and investor has complained about rampant and crouching corruption in state organizations in his country.
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