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Texas Muslims for Islamic Change Shocked at Al Manar Ban
by abaleada
Sunday, Dec. 19, 2004 at 4:33 AM
State Department's "terrorist" lable removes US access to Arab satellite TV
Texan Muslims for Islamic Change (TXM4C) is shocked
and disappointed at the decision of the US government to
ban Al Manar from its airwaves. The US State Department
has declared Al Manar to be a "terrorist" organisation by
placing the Arab satellite television channel on its Terrorist
Exclusion List (TEL). The TEL was designed for
immigration purposes under the Patriot Act of 2001.
On 9 December 2004, State Department deputy
spokesperson Adam Ereli claimed that Al Manar airs
"disgusting programming that preaches violence and
hatred". Meanwhile, State Department spokesperson
Richard Boucher maintained that Al Manar "serves to
incite that kind of terrorist violence", even though he has
apparently not viewed it himself.
On the other hand, TXM4C sees this as yet another step in
America's progression away from democratic values. To
date, it has not seen properly documented evidence
brought forward that would support the State Department's
claims that Al Manar "preaches violence and hatred" or
"serves to incite ... terrorist violence". Rather, this
Houston-based group of Muslim thinkers and activists feels
that the loss of access to Al Manar will remove from the
American people a valuable source of information about
the ongoing conflicts in the Middle East, governmental
policies of countries around the world, and especially
Islam.
The prevention of access to Al Manar television
broadcasts could even contravene the US Constitution and
international law, according to TXM4C. Both the
Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the United
Nations International Covenant on Civil and Political
Rights state, in part, "Everyone has the right to ... freedom
... to seek, receive and impart information ... through any
media ..." (Article 19 in each) The US Constitution also
declares, "Congress shall make no law... abridging the freedom
of speech, or of the press ..." in its First Amendment.
For more information on Texan Muslims for Islamic
Change, please see http://www.geocities.com/texanmuslims4change.
For more information on Al Manar, including information
on how to continue viewing newscasts in English, please
see http://www.manartv.com.
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