Swiss authorities jailed on Sunday the Qatari-based Al Jazeera satellite channel’s correspondent in Belgium as he was entering the country to cover a World Trade Organization meeting.
The reporter, Ahmad Kamel, told his station that no charges were filed, nor was an investigation conducted.
He was locked up all the night under 'humiliating' conditions, the reporter said, before he was released in the morning and ordered to leave the country.
Kamel said that he was not the only person from the Middle East to receive such treatment after the September 11 airborne suicide attacks on the US. He said that EU citizens of Arab origin had been harassed by authorities in various European countries.
“I will not go back there under the circumstances,” Kamel added.
The Arab satellite TV station has attracted attention by scooping the world with its exclusive coverage of the war in Afghanistan and broadcasting statements by prime terrorist suspect Osama bin Laden and his top lieutenants.
The station has also thumbed its nose at US protests that airing such statements might pose a danger to the US security – Albawaba.com
© 2001 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
