Saudi Arabia has blocked the broadcast of al-Manar television via the Arabsat satellites, the Hezbollah-owned TV network announced on Friday.
The decision of Saudi Arabia has triggered outrage among journalists in the Middle East who call it a gross violation of freedom of expression.
The channel’s headquarters was continuously struck by missiles during the 2006 war between Hezbollah and Israel. Despite the attacks, the TV network remained on air, broadcasting from undisclosed locations.
Al-Manar also vowed Friday to maintain the same coverage of the events in the Palestinian territories, Yemen, Iraq, Syria, Tunisia, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and Bahrain.
It is not the first time Saudi Arabia attacking freedom of expression. Earlier this year Saudia Arabia blocked Iraqi AnwarTV2 and Yemeni Al Massira TV, despite massive criticism from hundreds of TV channels.
The foundation of the Arab Satellite Communications Organization (Arabsat) dates back to the end of the 1960s.
On April 14, 1976, Arabsat was formed under Arab League jurisdiction. Saudi Arabia was the main financier of the new organization due to its expanded financial resources as a result of the oil-boom period and Riyadh housed Arabsat’s headquarters.
All Arab League states except for Comoros are shareholders of Arabsat.
Lebanon has 3.8% of the shares whereas Saudi Arabia holds 36.7%.
The regime in Saudi Arabia has been strongly criticized by human rights organizations.
Saudi Arabia has been compared to Daesh in long time now, especially for their support of terrorist organizations in Iraq, Syria and Yemen. But yesterday’s Justice Ministry statement prompted Twitter users from around the world to openly taunt and dare the Saudi government into taking action against them.
Hashtags #SueMeSaudi and #SaudiArabiaIsISIS has now many hits every minute, and many want to mark their opposition and to show their distance to the brutal dictator regime in Saudi Arabia.
Saudi Arabia practice Wahhabism ideology, a strictly fundamentalist orientation within Sunni Islam, which in practice is the state religion in the country. It is also ideology direction that has inspired al-Qaida and Daesh.
