A 'device to shut the Arab mouth'

HARSHLY RESTRICTIVE: Al-Jazeera said in February the charter was a threat to freedom of expression in the Arab world. (Getty Images)

A restrictive broadcast charter adopted by the Arab League earlier this year was slammed by media experts on Sunday as a "device to shut the Arab mouth", and a "sword hanging on the Arab television".

Participants at the Arab Media Transmission Forum in Abu Dhabi described the charter, which seeks to curtail political and religious expression, as "censorial", "overbroad" and "harshly restrictive", reported emirates news agency Wam.

Under the charter, broadcasters could have their licences revoked for criticising religions or defaming political, national and religious leaders.

The document, endorsed by Arab information ministers in Cairo in February, bans the broadcast of material seen as undermining “social peace, national unity, public order and general propriety”.

RELATED: Broadcaster freedom under threat

Arab League Secretary General Amro Moosa called on participants to debate the charter in a recorded message broadcast to the forum, saying it was the right of every Arab citizen to live in an era of openness.

A heated debate followed, with those who had helped draft the charter defending it as a balance of "expansive openness couple with zones of prohibition", Wam reported, without naming the participants.

The charter has met with widespread criticism from media watchdogs and rights groups, who said it would impede the right of people in the region to receive news and commentary reflecting critical opinions.

RELATED: Al-Jazeera hits out at restrictive broadcast charter

Egypt has hit back at critics, saying the document, which is not legally binding, was not meant to restrict freedom but to "organise" media at a time when satellite channels were “spreading ignorant messages and illegitimate religious edicts”.

RELATED: Broadcast charter does not restrict freedom, claims Egypt

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Daily Mail website blocked
Posted by richard, wadhurst, UK on 9 May 2008 at 13:08 UAE time


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Daily Mail blocked
Posted by Mark Sutton, editor itp.net, Dubai on 8 May 2008 at 13:12 UAE time


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Daily Mail Blocked
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Censorship
Posted by stuart mayhead, Abu Dhabi, UAE on 5 May 2008 at 07:36 UAE time

Well I believe 'no comment' is the safest response! And I suppose people living in Zimbabwe would agree.

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