Lebanon’s Al-Minar news blocked by Arabsat
December 7, 2015
By Chris Forrester
Saudi Arabia-based satellite operator Arabsat has stopped transmitting Lebanon’s Al-Minar news channel. The channel was taken down on December 4th.
BBC Monitoring reports that Iran’s cultural attaché at its Beirut embassy on December 6th condemned the action, and said it stood firm in solidarity with Al-Minar, and referred to the controversial channel as “the sound of truth and resistance”. Al-Minar is widely acknowledged as supporting the Iran-backed Hezbollah movement.
The broadcast ceased in the middle of a live interview when a guest Shaker al-Berjawi, the leader of Arab Movement Party, who was talking about the Yemeni situation, but made derogatory comments about Saudi Arabia’s King Salman. The presenter reportedly reminded the speaker that he should be more cautious in his comments, when the screen went dark.