No Fortress Impregnable
authorities, but later managed to enter and tell the world the story of the persecuted Rohingya. Al Jazeera, before international relief agencies, was able to gather eye-witness testimonies of rape and torture. In another episode, Al Jazeera’s investigative series also exposed the illegal gold trade in Egypt’s Halaib and Shalateen. In an episode titled ‘War Over Harbours’ we revealed the secret prison and military build-up at Assab Port in Eritrea. We also exposed the dark side of the conflict in the Horn of Africa. The ‘Fall At Gates of Tripoli’ episode penetrated Khalifa Haftar’s impregnable Libyan stronghold. It tracked the itineraries of secret flights siphoning arms and mercenaries to the warlord. From the middle of the fray, Al Jazeera was able to tell the untold truth. After years of hard work, Ground Zero provided forensic and technical evidence of how armies of fake accounts tried to influence the online narrative in the Gulf Crisis; and how the UAE had orchestrated the hacking of Qatari social media and news sites. Al Jazeera’s investigative series told the truth supported by irrefutable evidence and indisputable proofs. At the same time, we remained loyal to Al Jazeera’s mission to be a platform for all; that is why we spoke to Qatar’s most bitter critics. We were open for every opinion, every voice.
No Fortress Impregnable Salam Hindawi | Presenter - Ground Zero, Al Jazeera News
When 80-year-old Hasna spoke to Al Jazeera’s Ground Zero, no one imagined she would end up in one of Egypt’s darkest detention cells. A new chapter of agony was added to her misery and to the suffering of other residents of the Sinai Peninsula. Forced out of her home like thousands of other residents of the region, the grief-stricken lady spoke to us from a little tent she had taken refuge in. Not only did her words reveal immense pain, they also haunted those who had thought they got away with their crime.
The guilt and helplessness almost killed me. Although we were keen to keep all of our witnesses and sources anonymous, Egyptian intelligence launched an all-out war on all those who spoke to Al Jazeera. However, they failed to refute any of the facts presented in the investigative film. During more than a year of investigations, we managed to get inside Sinai, which had been turned into an impenetrable fortress by the Egyptian military under the pretext of ‘fighting terrorism,’ with a total absence of any media, local or foreign.
The film, ‘Sinai: A Battle of Labyrinth’, documented how Israeli warplanes carried out airstrikes inside the Egyptian territories, how thousands of residents have been forcibly expelled from their homes and how whole towns have been levelled. Egypt’s state media replied with a barrage of false news and fabricated reports. Al Jazeera’s conclusive answer came through satellite images that showed entire communities wiped off the map. Before that, the Ground Zero programme had entered the restricted Rakhine State. We were denied entry at the airport by Bangladeshi
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