Qatar Crisis: Saudi Arabia Shutters Local Al Jazeera Office

Saudi Arabia shut the local Al Jazeera office in the country on Monday following its row with its Gulf neighbor Qatar, which owns the influential satellite channel.

Saudi Arabia cut its diplomatic ties with Qatar earlier in the day, along with Bahrain, Egypt and the United Arab Emirates, who accuse Qatar of supporting terrorism.

In a statement, Saudi Arabia accused Qatar of broadcasting militant ideology, in an apparent reference to al Jazeera.
“(Qatar) embraces multiple terrorist and sectarian groups aimed at disturbing stability in the region, including the Muslim Brotherhood, ISIS (Islamic State) and al-Qaida, and promotes the message and schemes of these groups through their media constantly,” the Saudi state news agency SPA said.

Just last month, Egypt banned 21 websites including the main website of Qatar-based al Jazeera television for “supporting terrorism,” joining Saudi Arabia and the UAE who had previously blocked the main website of the news outlet.The Qatari Foreign Ministry blasted the decision to cut ties as “unjustified” and said it was “based on claims and allegations that have no basis in fact” and will have no influence on Qatar or its citizens.

Courtesy : haaretz