Arab Gulf countries ban any ties with Hezbollah’s media

The Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) information ministers agreed on Tuesday to take all legal measures to ensure there are no deals or agreements with any channel connected in anyway with the Lebanese Hezbollah militia or any of its leaders or affiliates.

The agreement was reached as the ministers of the UAE, Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar and Saudi Arabia met in the Saudi capital Riyadh to discuss ways to implement the decision taken on March 2 by the GCC and at the meeting of the Arab interior ministers to designate Hezbollah as a terrorist group.

The designation was based on the charges that Hezbollah was a group that incited hatred, chaos and violence in a blatant violation of the sovereignty, security and stability of GCC and Arab countries.

The Hezbollah attitudes also breached internal laws, international legal standards and moral principles and values, and constituted a threat to Gulf, Arab and international stability, the information ministers said.

“The legal measures stipulated in the decision will apply to all production companies, producers and all matters related to media,” a communique issued by the ministers said. “They are based on the GCC laws and on the international laws related to the fight against terrorism,” it said.

In remarks following the meeting, Adel Al Turaifi, Saudi Arabia’s culture and information minister, said that the measures taken by the ministers would ensure “no elements in the GCC media would promote the Hezbollah group”.

He added that the measures would apply to all media, including television and social media.

Channels endorsing Hezbollah and inciting divisions and sectarianism would be banned and people promoting its divisive discourse would face measures, he added.

The ministers discussed during the meeting a number of issues concerning to the strengthening of the joint media work among the GCC countries in all fields, especially with regard to the implementation of a resolution on highlighting the true image of Islam and its values, calling for moderation approach adopted by the GCC countries, through all the media, in addition to the adoption of recommendations of media committees in the field of radio, television and news agencies in abroad-directed media and the electronic media.

GN