Journalists and human rights activists on Tuesday denounced “threats” by Saudi Arabia and its allies against Qatari media organisations, including satellite news broadcaster Al-Jazeera. Regional kingpin Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, the United Arab Emirates and Egypt broke ties with Qatar on June 5, accusing it of fostering extremism and later issuing 13 demands, including Al-Jazeera’s closure. At the end Tuesday of a two-day conference on “freedom of expression”, organised by Qatar and attended by representatives of international organisations, rights groups and academics, a statement condemned “threats” by Saudi Arabia and its allies. “The conference condemns unequivocally the threats by the governments of Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, the Arab Republic of Egypt and the kingdom of Bahrain demanding the closing down of Al-Jazeera and other media outlets,” it said. Seamus Dooley, the acting secretary general of the National Union of Journalists for the UK and Ireland, said journalists “are not pawns in a political game”.

Source: Hindustan Times July 25, 2017 17:03 UTC