(AFP Photo)
Al Jazeera has accused the armed forces of interfering with its satellite broadcasting signals in Egypt.
The Qatar based news agency, citing a “panel of experts” on Tuesday, claims to have identified four locations where it believes satellite jamming signals are being broadcast from. In a report on its English language channel presenter Sami Zeidan said, “It is clear the common link in all of these locations is the presence of military facilities.” Al Jazeera also refused to name its correspondent reporting from Cairo via telephone, citing security reasons.
In its report Al Jazeera showed a map of Cairo and the surrounding area identifying two locations on the Cairo-Suez road, one on the Cairo-Alexandria road and one in Heliopolis. Zeidan’s report states that the panel of experts believe the jamming signal location is accurate to a 1.6km area. In all four locations shown on the map the report shows armed forces installation within the 1.6km radius.
Al Jazeera reported that it “has been forced to change frequencies several times to allow viewers to continue to watch the network’s news and sport channels.”
The network says it has been targeted by the Egyptian authorities since the ouster of former President Mohamed Morsi at the beginning of July.
The Administrative Court of the State Council ruled on Tuesday to close Al-Jazeera Mubasher Misr, the network’s channel for Egypt. The judge in the case said the decision to close the channel along with three Islamist channels was made due to the channels’ “dissemination of rumours and false, misleading news, which might cause strife in the community between citizens and panic among them.”
Three foreign Al-Jazeera reporters were deported by the Egyptian authorities last Sunday having been held without charge for five days before being forced to leave the country.
The offices of Al Jazeera Mubasher Misr were raided by security forces towards the end of August and broadcasting equipment was confiscated.
Al Jazeera denies any accusation that it is bias and “says it carries no torch for any political party,” according to the network’s report.
