Reuters/Doha

 

The pan-Arab Al Jazeera television network yesterday accused Egyptian authorities of a sustained campaign of intimidation against its staff, rejecting charges of pro-Islamist bias in its reporting on the crisis in Egypt.

Hours after the Egyptian military ousted president Mohamed 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”.

The Doha-based TV network said Egyptian authorities had been “tightening its grip on the freedom of Al Jazeera’s staff” for the past three weeks.

Egyptian officials were not immediately available for comment in Cairo, where it was a national holiday.

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.

The television station, which rose to prominence by its lively coverage of a region once dominated by state media, also said its staff were being prevented from covering official news conferences and that they were receiving numerous threats.

“There is no truth to what is being published in this campaign about Al Jazeera’s bias towards 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.

 

US new channel’s launch on August 20

 

The US news channel of  Doha-based Al Jazeera will be launched August 20, the group said 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. Shihabi previously spent 12 years as a management consultant at Arthur Andersen, Andersen Consulting and Deloitte and holds a master’s degree from Georgetown University. O’Brian has been responsible for ABC’s newsgathering operations, including all ABC News bureaus worldwide, since 2007, according to Al Jazeera.