Amnesty International has criticised what appears to have been the Qatari authorities’ blocking of the Doha News site, the country’s independent English language daily news site.
Doha News announced on Thursday that that it believed that the Qatari authorities had ordered the blocking of its website by Qatar’s two internet service providers.
Internet users in the country report being unable to access the website, which has an audience of around one million unique users per month, although the website is still accessible from overseas.
The rights group said in a statement that freedom of expression in Qatar is strictly controlled and the local press routinely exercises self-censorship.
Under Qatar’s 2014 Cyber Crimes Law, the authorities may ban websites they consider threatening to the “safety” of the country and punish anyone who posts or shares online content that “undermines” Qatar’s “social values” or “general order”, it added.
James Lynch, Amnesty International’s deputy director for global issues, said: “This is an alarming setback for freedom of expression in the country. Deliberately blocking people in Qatar from accessing a legitimate news website would be an outright attack on media freedom.
“As the nation that founded the Al Jazeera media network and which hosts a centre dedicated to promoting global media freedom, Qatar should be at the forefront of those championing freedom of the press.
“Instead, the government appears to have specifically targeted a key source of independent and credible journalism in the country, which has played an important role in fostering dialogue and discussion about social and political issues that affect people in Qatar.
“If they want to show that their claims to support media freedoms are not hollow, the Qatari authorities must immediately reverse the blocking of Doha News.”
Follow us on
