The offices of Al Jazeera’s Egyptian news channel, as well as the offices of a number of other Egyptian TV stations, were raided by the country’s military as it seized control of power. The other stations are the Muslim Brotherhood-operated Egypt25 and Islamist stations Al-Hafiz and Al-Nas.
A number of Al Jazeera journalists were also detained by police, though they have since been released. The channel has more:
“We are concerned by reports that authorities are shutting down television coverage based on political perspective,” said Sherif Mansour of the New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists.
Advertisement“We urge the military not to deprive Egyptians of information sources at this important juncture.”
Speaking to Al Jazeera English, National Salvation Front spokesman Khaled Dawoud defended the move.
“Unfortunately these are exceptional circumstances,” he said.
“I don’t believe closing down any newspaper or any channel is a useful measure … but we are going through a very critical time here, the situation is dangerous.