IFJ Condemns Arrest of Journalist and Warns of "Witch-hunt Against Al-Jazeera
and Arab Media
08/09/2003
The International Federation of Journalists today condemned the arrest by
Spanish officials of an Al-Jazeera Television journalist for alleged ties to al
Qaeda members in what it warned "looks like developing into an international
witch-hunt" against Arab-language media.

On September 5, Tayseer Alouni, an Al-Jazeera reporter who had worked as a war
correspondent in Kabul for the Qatar-based satellite network, was arrested by
anti-terrorist police at his home in Alfacar, Spain and placed under police
custody in Madrid. He is currently facing questioning, but has been told to
present all reports and activities undertaken whilst working in Afghanistan and
Iraq and could be held for a substantial period of time. The IFJ is particularly
concerned because Alouni is not in good health.

Judge Baltasar Garzón issued an arrest warrant for Alouni based on both his
supposed links to the Spanish cell of al Qaeda, and, in particular, due to his
links with Osama Bin Laden. Garzón accused Alouni of manipulating his stance as
a journalist so as to obscure his work for the terrorist organisation. Alouni
had previously covered the US invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq.

"Over the past year there has been an expression of irritation by western,
particularly American, officials over the work of some Arab media and Al-Jazeera
in particular," said Aidan White, IFJ General Secretary. "Its offices have been
attacked by the military in Afghanistan and twice in Iraq. With this latest
arrest it all begins to look like developing into an international witch-hunt."

Al-Jazeera has published controversial material - from terrorist groups and
allegedly from Saddam Hussein, which has been extensively followed up by other
media. "This may be frustrating for officials who would prefer this sort of
information to be suppressed, but the public has a right to know and hear all
sides and opinions. Intimidating the messenger is no answer to the crisis of
terrorism," said White.

According to Ahmed Kamel, a colleague of Alouni, one of the arguments for his
arrest is based on an interview with Osama Bin Laden, carried out on October 7
2001, which was not actually a 'real interview.' The questions were prewritten
for Alouni by al Qaeda representatives and the journalist was also put under
severe pressure to carry out the interview with Bin Laden without the normal
freeflow dialogue of a real, live interview. Although the interview was
broadcast in part by CNN, it was never fully broadcast by Al-Jazeera because of
ethical reservations over the content and conditions of the interview.

The IFJ warns that press freedom will suffer if the lawful activities undertaken
by journalists such as Alouni are tagged as crimes. "A sinister pattern of
unresolved attacks against the Arab media has been on the rise since the
destruction of the Kabul offices of Al Jazeera by American forces during the war
in Afghanistan, and subsequent hits in Baghdad and Basra during the Iraqi
conflict," said White.

The IFJ is calling on the Spanish authorities to release Alouni immediately, and
also on the international community to tighten its efforts to eradicate
discrimination against journalists.

Further information: + 32 2 235 22 00
The IFJ represents over 500,000 journalists in more than 100 countries


Federación Internacional de Periodistas
http://www.ifj.org/default.asp?Index=1917&Language=EN





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