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.
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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