Dakhlallah: France decision to ban al-Manar TV is against democracy
Syria-France, Politics, 12/16/2004

Syria's Information Minister Mehdi Dakhlallah has described the French decision to ban the transmission of the Lebanese satellite T.V. channel, al-Manar, as a dangerous development that contradicts with the democratic principles of information and tolerance, considering it as a regrettingly narrowing the prospects of the required dialogue between cultures and civilizations.

He added that the issue is a new attempt to put pressure and intimidate the Arab media circles in order to meet Israel's desires and those of the Zionist wave which is taking momentum on all levels on the international life including the media.

He said that what happened was an expression of "anti Arab Semitism and with Zionist and racist motives, and is substantially an act directed against freedom of the press, and therefore the harm is being done to the world circles which are calling for interaction, tolerance, accepting the other, and spreading the humanitarian truth."

For its part, the Information Ministry authorized Syria's representative at the Arab Radios Federation to put this issue on the agenda of the next meeting of the federation with the aim of taking a unified stance of solidarity with the alManar TV channel.

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