Monday, January 31, 2011

Channel Al-Jazeera banned in Egypt

After announcing this Sunday morning closing the office of Al Jazeera in Cairo, and revocation of accreditation of all journalists in the country, the Egyptian authorities have blocked the direct distribution chain throughout the country, found numerous witnesses on the spot. Al-Jazeera, which has a major office in Cairo and correspondents throughout the country, covers the last three days live events, despite numerous technical difficulties related to the cutoff of communications networks, and political, while the government was reluctant so far on the attitude to adopt.

Friday afternoon, police had tried to enter the premises of the chain in the evening, tanks had taken up positions outside the offices, preventing the demonstrators from approaching. Since Sunday afternoon, the signal chain was cut on the Nilesat satellite. The reception of Al-Jazeera in Arabic is blocked in Egypt and parts of North Africa, covering Nilesat including Tunisia, Turkey and Algeria.

The chain remains accessible on the Hotbird satellite (Eutelsat 12111/V/27500 channel). Unlike Hotbird, Nilesat is under the control of the Egyptian state. Broadcast state owns 40% of its capital, and the army, through an investment fund in defense technologies, holds 10%. Revocation of the license chain has enabled the authorities to request the operator to stop its spread under a veneer of legality.

As for cutting off Internet access, the authorities did not need to use technical tricks to block access, but probably have stopped broadcasting Al-Jazeera with a simple phone call . The chain has reported a direct attack against freedom of expression. "It is imperative that the voices of Egyptians from all sides can continue to be heard; the closure of our offices in Egypt aims at establishing a censorship and silence the voices of the Egyptian people," responded a spokesman for Al-Jazeera.

The network announced it would continue to cover live events. Bbc. en

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