Iraq Govt. Lifts Ban of Arab TV Station

[papau]

http://www.newsday.com/news/nationworld/world/wire/sns-ap-iraq-media,0,7514096.story?coll=sns-ap-world-headlines


Iraq Govt. Lifts Ban of Arab TV Station

By Associated Press January 28, 2004, 10:33 AM EST

BAGHDAD, Iraq -- Iraq's U.S.-appointed government has lifted a ban against an Arab television network, two months after it ordered to cease broadcasting from Iraq for allegedly inciting violence, an official said Wednesday.

"The problem with them is over now," said Mahmoud Othman, a member of the Iraqi Governing Council which had imposed the ban on Al-Arabiya television after it aired an audio tape purportedly from Saddam Hussein.

In a letter sent to the station, the council said that the station would be allowed to resume broadcasting from Iraq "freely, like the other Arab and international media outlets."

The Dubai-based Al-Arabiya had sent a letter to the council asking it to lift the ban, and vowing to "remain committed to our journalistic integrity and objectivity ... and look forward to opening a new chapter of cooperation between the station and the council." <snip>

In November, the Iraqi security forces raided the offices of Al-Arabiya, banned its broadcasts from Iraq and threatened to imprison its journalists following airing of the tape, in which Saddam urged his followers to continue their resistance. Saddam was captured Dec. 13. <snip>