Inside Story

Has UAE gone too far in lobbying against Al Jazeera?

The UAE is reportedly seeking to have Al Jazeera registered as a foreign agent in the United States.

The United Arab Emirates is reportedly running a campaign to have Al Jazeera registered as a foreign agent in the United States.

Shutting down the Al Jazeera network was one of the main demands of the countries involved in a blockade when they cut off diplomatic relations with Qatar more than two years ago.

Registering as a foreign agent would effectively brand it a government ‘tool’ – a claim Al Jazeera strongly denies and could restrict its operations in the US.

The news agency Bloomberg says a prominent law firm was employed by the UAE to achieve this goal.

This includes meeting congressional staff, White House officials, journalists and academics.

It also involves UAE-controlled digital accounts and websites.

Twitter suspended thousands of those accounts in September.

What are the limits to political lobbying?

Presenter: Peter Dobbie

Guests:

Bruce Fein – constitutional and international lawyer

Ravi Prasad – director of advocacy at the International Press Institute

Mahjoob Zweiri – director of the Gulf Studies Center at Qatar University