A Kuwaiti court ordered Qatar-based satellite television channel Al-Jazeera on Tuesday to pay compensation to a group of Kuwaiti lawyers who sued the station for defamation, one of the lawyers said.
"We won preliminary compensation of 5,001 dinars (16,000 dollars)," Mohammed Talib told AFP.
"That was the first step. In the next one, we're demanding 20,000 dinars (65,000 dollars)" for damages in a case that will be filed within a period of weeks, he added.
Talib said the lawyers sued Al-Jazeera's chairman as well as Faisal al-Qassim, the host of the live show "Opposite Direction", after one of the guests on the show "offended and insulted Kuwait."
"They said Kuwait is a thorn in the side of Arab solidarity," Talib said. The guest, Sayyed Nassar, also claimed Kuwait "stole" oil from Iraq before Baghdad's 1990 invasion of the emirate, he added.
Impolite remarks were also made with regards to Kuwaiti officials, Talib added.
"The money is not our aim," the lawyer made clear. "Our aim is to restore the dignity of Kuwait as an entity, a people and a sovereignty."
Kuwait closed down Al-Jazeera's office last week after informing the local correspondent that the channel was "biased". Moreover, Kuwaiti officials said Al-Jazeera took a "hostile" stance against Kuwait and that it was closed down "permanently" for security reasons. (Albawaba.com)
© 2002 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
