Al Jazeera accuses Cairo of intimidation campaign

DOHA: The pan-Arab Al Jazeera television network accused Egyptian authorities on Tuesday of a sustained campaign of intimidation against its staff, rejecting charges of bias in its reporting on the crisis in Egypt.
Hours after the Egyptian military ousted President Muhammad Mursi on July 3, security forces raided the Cairo offices of Al Jazeera’s Egyptian news channel, which military sources accused at the time of broadcasting “incitement.”
Based in Qatar, a Gulf Arab state viewed as sympathetic to Mursi’s Muslim Brotherhood, Al Jazeera had been criticized by many Egyptians for its perceived bias in covering their country. Al Jazeera said authorities had been “tightening its grip on the freedom of Al Jazeera’s staff” for the past three weeks.
Al Jazeera said in a statement the Egyptian authorities had filed a law suit saying it had stolen two transmission feeds from state television and used them to broadcast protests at a square where Mursi supporters have been camped since his ouster.
“There is no truth to what is being published in this campaign about Al Jazeera’s bias toward one side in the current political equation. These are accusations with no proof,” the statement said.
Ghassan Abu Hussein, an Al Jazeera spokesman, said: “Despite the challenges it is facing in Egypt, Al Jazeera affirms its commitment to its editorial policy that is based on the highest levels of professional measures and in which all integrity, objectivity and balance are obvious in its coverage.”
He said the network was worried about the lives, safety and freedom of its staff due to the Egyptian “campaign” against it.
Qatar, which gave Egypt $7 billion in aid during the Muslim Brotherhood’s year in power, had apparently seen support for the movement as a way to project its influence in the Middle East.
Meanwhile, the US news channel of Al Jazeera will be launched on August 20, the group said Monday as it unveiled its top executive team.
Ehab Al-Shihabi, executive director for international operations, has been named interim chief executive officer of Al-Jazeera America, and ABC News veteran Kate O’Brian has been named president, a statement said. Shihabi is a five-year veteran of Al Jazeera who has overseen the network’s worldwide bureaus and has participated in the creation and launch of Al-Jazeera’s Balkans and Turkish channels.
O’Brian has been responsible for ABC’s newsgathering operations, including all ABC News bureaus worldwide, since 2007, according to Al-Jazeera.