Qatari government controls Al-Jazeera editorial lines, Fahmy

“In my lawsuit in Canada, one of the main angles I aim to prove to the judge is that the Qatari government controls Al Jazeera’s general editorial lines,” Egyptian-Canadian journalist Mohamed Fahmy said Thursday in a press conference titled “Al Jazeera on Trial,” in Washington.

Fahmy referred to phone calls, recently broadcasted by the government of Bahrain, in which Hamad Khalifa Al Atya, the advisor to the Qatari Emir, told Hassan Ali Sultan, a Bahraini opposition member designated as a terrorist, that he would immediately carry out updates on the police forces and the declaration of national emergency in Bahrain on Al-Jazeera.

The phone calls reportedly took place in 2011, at the peak of the anti-government protests in Bahrain.

Egyptian-Canadian Journalist Mohamed Fahmy also said that Qatar-owned al Jazeera network is sponsoring groups of the outlawed Muslim brotherhood and al-Qaeda-affiliate in Syria Al Nusra.

During the conference, Fawzy said he worked as a photojournalist for more than two decades, during which he covered most important events of the world, adding, “I have never thought of publishing false or biased news.”

The Al-Jazeera Network coverage of Egypt has been repeatedly slammed by the government over backing the former ruling of the ousted President Mohamed Morsi and the outlawed Muslim Brotherhood group. Its offices were closed in the country and the channel was blocked.