conducted its work across many Arab and foreign countries with- out significant legal or security obstacles. But during and follow- ing the invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq, violations against Al Jazeera offices and crews increased substantially. Compared to the first five years, the second five years (2001-2006) witnessed 17 violations in several Arab countries in addition to the detention of former Al Jazeera correspondent in Kabul, Tayseer Allouni, during his visit to Spain, where he was subjected to trial (1) . From 2006 to 2011, a similar pattern was in action with 18 violations and abus- es. From 2011 to 2016, however, the pattern was so significant that Al Jazeera correspondents and crews sustained 28 aggressions and abuses. Most of these acts were linked to the Arab Spring revolutions and the aggressive approach adopted by Arab gov- ernments towards Al Jazeera’s coverage of those events (2) . During 2016-2020, Al Jazeera faced 21 transgressions and abuses some of which constituted flagrant human rights violations, including the detention of the channel’s news producer Mahmoud Hussein in Cairo in December 2016. He remained in prison until he was released in February 2021 without any charges (3) .
5. Lobbies and Power Centres: Al Jazeera’s Coverage Challenges in Iraq and Lebanon
Despite the many violations by authorities against Al Jazeera and other media networks, these practices may be understood and explained. After all, they were committed under the state’s author- ity, responsibility, and applicable laws and regulations, regardless of how low the ceiling of freedom might be. The situation is dif- ferent in some countries, though, as the power of the state dimin- ishes in favour of certain domestic groups such as political parties, militias, pressure groups, financial and security lobbies, among
(1) Ibid.
(2) Ibid.
(3) For a more detailed account on the violations sustained by Al Jazeera, refer to Chapter 11 of this volume, “Targeting the Witnesses, by Fatima Alsmadi.
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