DOHA: Arab news channel Al-Jazeera denied Thursday that it was pursuing a political agenda against Tunisia, after Tunis closed its embassy in Doha to protest an alleged hostile campaign by the Qatar-based television. We do not have a political agenda against Tunisia or any other side, said Waddah Khanfar, director general of the satellite channel which has repeatedly angered Arab and other governments since it was launched a decade ago. We regret the Tunisian decision, and we reaffirm that we are committed to [providing a platform for] different views, Khanfar said. The Qatari government has not commented on Tunisia s decision, announced Wednesday, to close its Doha embassy. Thursday s Qatari press reported the news but withheld editorial comment. The Tunisian move followed the airing by Al-Jazeera of interviews with Moncef Marzouki, an opponent of the regime of Tunisian President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali, in which he called for civil resistance.
Al-Jazeera ignores truth and objectivity every time that it deals with current affairs in Tunisia … apparently waging a hostile campaign aimed at harming Tunisia, the Tunisian foreign ministry said. Al-Jazeera would welcome any Tunisian official who would want to speak to the channel, Khanfar said. When we host certain figures, it does not mean that Al-Jazeera endorses their positions, he said. The television station broadcast an interview with the French-based Marzouki on Oct. 14, and another on Saturday, several hours after he returned to Tunisia. Following the first interview, he was summoned by a Tunisian court to answer charges of inciting civil disobedience, but he told Al-Jazeera he would not be obeying the summons. On his return to Tunis, Marzouki, 61, founder of the banned Congress for the Republic, said, This accusation is worthless and I am proud to encourage people to exercise their rights to achieve a democratic regime, not by violence but by peaceful means.
Launched in November 1996 with the support of the Qatari foreign ministry, Al-Jazeera is highly popular among Arab viewers but has irked many governments in the region for tackling political, social and at times sexual issues, previously regarded as taboo.
