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Iraqi regulators have suspended the license of a Saudi-owned television channel and are taking steps to terminate its right to operate in Iraq after the channel aired a report describing former leaders of Hamas, Hezbollah and Iran’s Quds Force as “faces of terrorism.”
The suspension of the channel, MBC Media Group, was announced by the Iraqi Communication and Media Commission on Saturday, less than 24 hours after supporters of the Iranian linked armed groups stormed the channel’s offices in Baghdad, filming themselves as they vandalized equipment and smashed computers.
The break-in occurred after a crowd gathered late on Friday in front of the channel’s building, started a fire and chanted, “No, no Al-Saud.”
Among those the MBC report characterized as terrorists were Yahya Sinwar, the military leader of Hamas, who was killed by Israeli forces in Gaza earlier this week; the Iranian Quds Force general, Qassim Suleimani, who was killed in a U.S. strike in Baghdad in 2020; and Hezbollah’s leader, Hassan Nasrallah, killed by Israel near Beirut in September. All had been designated as terrorists by the United States, and Hamas and Hezbollah are supported by Iran.
Saudi Arabia’s Media Regulatory Authority said the report also violated its media policy. It said officials there were looking at the country’s own legal procedures to address the violation.
Representatives of MBC in Iraq did not respond to multiple efforts to reach them for comment, but the report appeared to have been taken down.
The government of Iraq is dominated by parties with links to Iran. Many party leaders view the men named in the MBC report as heroes and martyrs, and any public criticism is seen as nearly blasphemous.
In its announcement of MBC’s suspension, Iraq’s Communications and Media Commission said its duty was to “deter violators of national values and public morals” and that MBC had repeatedly violated the rules in “its assaults on the martyrs.”
While the Iraqi government has close ties to Iran in many respects, Iraq’s population is diverse both religiously and ethnically. It has many Sunnis as well as Kurds, the majority of whom are also Sunni, and many in both communities are uncomfortable with the deference shown toward Iran. Many Shia Iraqis also privately express a similar discomfort. However, the armed groups’ ability to threaten violence has created a deep reluctance to speak out.
A member of Parliament, Farouk Hanna, the chairman of the body’s Culture, Media and Antiquities Committee, did not object to the government’s decision to suspend MBC’s license, but he did criticize the mob that vandalized the Saudi channel’s office’s.
“It’s an unjustified act,” he said. “There are legal ways to protest, not by burning and breaking things.”The Interior Ministry’s spokesman, Muqdad Meri, said the ministry would investigate why the Interior Forces sent to stop the incident were unable to protect the station but made no promise to investigate the perpetrators of the vandalism.
MBC, formerly known as the Middle East Broadcasting Center, is not a stranger to controversy in Iraq. On at least two previous occasions the channel has been a target of criticism for its characterization of figures close to Iran.
Falih Hassan contributed reporting from Baghdad
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