In a May 9, 2009 article in the Egyptian government daily Al-Gomhouriyya, the paper's editor Muhammad Ali Ibrahim, who is also an MP, harshly criticized Qatari Emir Hamad bin Khalifa and his wife Sheikha Mozah bint Nasser Al-Missned, claiming that while they appear to advocate democracy, they stifle all criticism of their regime.
The following are excerpts from his article: [1]
Qatari Media Can't Report on Corruption or Qatar's Connections with U.S. and Israel
"Every time I have criticized Qatar, a group of my fellow [journalists] has spoken out against me, firing arrows [of criticism at me] to protect the country [Qatar] - which is founded upon one woman and one television channel. To make a long story very short, Qatar is Sheikha Mozah, the wife of Qatari Emir Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa - and the television channel Al-Jazeera.
"Without Sheikha Mozah bint Nasser Al-Missned, and without Al-Jazeera, Qatar's voice, its media, and its political presence and influence would fade. Qatar is a state of sheikhs, not a state in the usual sense. Allah has poured out much of His plenty [upon Qatar's sheikhs] - but they have not properly utilized their resources to build a well-founded state. Instead, they have devoted their time to convening summits and giving patronage to fighters and thieves such as Sa'd Al-Din Ibrahim [2] and to awarding prizes for support of democracy and freedom of expression - even though they themselves could hardly be more distant from these [values].
"Qatar's newspapers may not attack the issue of corruption among ministers, sheikhs, or the ruling family. No one dares publish pictures of visits to Doha by Israeli officials, and no newspaper editor can pluck up the courage to publish pictures of the American bombers landing and taking off at the American air bases in Al-Udeid, Al-Siliyya, or Umm Salal. All of Qatar is one [big] American air base.
"The media directed by the emir's wife Sheikha Mozah is 'one-eyed,' - or blind in one eye... This media sees, and inflates the dimensions of, the flaws of the other - yet cannot see the flaws and defects that fill this little island [Qatar], which the world perceives as the biggest place for American military air bases outside the U.S. [The fact is that] 45,000 [U.S.] troops are stationed here - more [troops] than in the [entire] Qatari army."
Sheikha Mozah Works to Instill Democracy - But Prevents Criticism of the Regime in Her Own Country
"Sheikha Mozah Al-Missned has dedicated herself and her funds to instilling democracy in developing countries, and in inculcating the principles of press freedom in regions that she sees a need to cultivate. The sheikha acts like [Qatar] is a superpower that grants patronage for political reforms and freedom of expression throughout the world.
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"Two years ago, Sa'd Al-Din Ibrahim received $10 million from her to support democracy in the Arab world. In May 2007, he brought a few [Egyptian] oppositionists to Doha, thinking that with them he would change the map of the region. Sheikha Mozah Al-Missned, and her husband the emir, who had carried out a coup against his father, forgot that the peoples of the region do not trust collaborators, and do not consent to anyone speaking on their behalf or acting as their patron using other people's money.
"Mozah failed to carry out political reforms, [even though] she saw this as her own national project. At the recommendation of the previous American administration, she chose Sa'd Al-Din Ibrahim as the project director, and as coordinator and disseminator of the concept of 'constructive anarchy' adopted by former U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, arguing that this was democracy. When Sa'd Al-Din Ibrahim's influence lessened, at the end of the Bush administration, and when he did not successfully market himself in a positive manner to the new American administration, Sheikha Mozah thought she would bring in someone else, one of the lovers of the media shows in Doha, to help her in her sacred mission - [obtaining] press and media freedom in the Arab world. Apparently, Mozah wanted to 'duplicate' the Al-Jazeera model in the Arab homeland, and to publish newspapers that would do the same.
"Last year, Mozah chose a Frenchman, Robert Menard, to run the Doha Center for Media Freedom, after he was thrown out of Reporters Without Borders... She hired Menard on the spot, because Qatar is expert at selecting the persecuted and those with political problems, and in putting them right at the center of things. But apparently Mozah did not explain to him about the red, green, and yellow lines controlling Qatari society - the most important of which is [the principle] that there can be no criticism of domestic affairs.
"Menard thought that the center he was called to direct would first of all [make] recommendations and [suggest] plans of action applying to domestic affairs [in Qatar], so that when he turned to [criticize] elements outside Qatar he would appear credible. But he was deluding himself. Monsieur Menard wrote an open letter to Sheikha Mozah criticizing the situation in Qatar, which has no press freedom or journalists' union, and which needs to change the laws in order to regulate press freedom. He also criticized Sudanese President Omar Al-Bashir's participation at the Arab summit at Doha, because it contravened international law and constituted contempt for the International Criminal Court, which is a U.N. apparatus. Imagine Sheikha Mozah's face when she read the open letter sent to her by Robert Menard. She immediately ordered him expelled from Qatar, and ordered the press to flay him alive. She pushed the press to attack him, harshly criticized him, and claimed that he was expelled because he had sought to instill anarchy in the name of press freedom, failed to respect Qatar's domestic situation, and repeatedly criticized Qatar's lack of press freedom and the laws in it that every worker in Qatar must obey..."
"Qatar's Press and Media Aim Their Criticism Only at the 'Other'"
"Doha's domestic affairs, laws, ministers, and sheikhs are above all criticism. They are the sanctum sanctorum that none can approach or oppose. God be praised, Qatar's press and media aim their criticism only at the 'other.' They see our flaws, but permit no one to see theirs. Criticizing Qatar's domestic affairs is 'out of bounds.' Any journalist who wants to criticize aims his criticism westward, at Egypt, because it is a large country with freedom and democracy; its newspapers [regularly] bite the government, and there are no limits on criticism. Egyptian domestic affairs are permitted [targets], and anyone criticizing them goes unrebuked. As severe as the [external] criticism is, there is equally harsh criticism in Egypt's own newspapers.
"Members of the Qatari administration and media forget that we agree to accept criticism of Egypt, but not when it is funded by Qatar, or carried out by a mobilized press or by hosting oppositionists on Al-Jazeera TV to unleash their tongues against Egypt for a payment of $500 or $1,000.
"With regard to Menard's expulsion from Qatar, I was stunned at the charge ascribed to him - that he invited the Danish journalist who had led the Copenhagen cartoon campaign against the Prophet to participate in a May 2-3 Doha ceremony marking World Press Freedom Day, held jointly with UNESCO. Also participating was [my] colleague Ibrahim 'Issa, editor of the [Jordanian daily] Al-Dustour, who was invited by the Doha Center for Media Freedom.
"We all know that the list of the invitees to any conference is shown to both the conference chairman and the security apparatuses - and this is done in every Gulf, Asian, or European country. Accordingly, the Danish journalist was invited with the consent of the Qatari government, as well as with the consent of Sheikha Mozah [herself] - as was every [other] journalist attending the conference.
"So it was strange to read the Qatari papers' criticism of Menard for inviting the Dane. The Qatari journalists paid no attention to the fact that foreigners may not invite anyone without the written consent of their guarantor. [Since] Menard's guarantor was none other than Sheikha Mozah herself, it was she who invited the Danish journalist - and not Menard, who worked for her.
"In any event, Menard's expulsion from Qatar proved something I wrote years ago about Al-Jazeera TV and Doha's newspapers. I set [them] a challenge: Point out the names of your country's political prisoners. Publish the names of those killed in accidents caused by the speeding cars of top officials. Discuss the emir's wealth, or the sums lost by Qatar's ministers in games of chance in London and Switzerland. Write about the struggles of various women to suggest their sons as the emir's heirs, or of residents' land being expropriated so that villas and palaces may be built on it. Or [write] about the famous chanteuse's affair with a senior official, and his insistence that she have an abortion... and so on.
"Qatar's domestic affairs do not interest us, because they are the affairs of the Qataris alone. I wish that other countries' domestic affairs were respected by Qatar in the same way as we [Egyptians] respect the affairs of public figures, and refrain from publishing their many secrets. If we thought to publish 'Doha tales' of gossip, secrets, and rumors, such publication would certainly have more extensive circulation than Qatar's papers.
"The Americans defend Qatar, [though Qatar] encourages the Muslim Brotherhood and the Salafis, and its ruling family is divided. With regard to Qatar's connection to Israel - they are too tight to be influenced by a few words [against them expressed] at a regular, or special, summit conference." [3]
Endnotes:
[1] Al-Gomhouriyya (Egypt), May 9, 2009.
[2] Dr. Sa'd Al-Din Ibrahim is a prominent Egyptian oppositionist who currently resides in Qatar and works for the Arab Democracy Foundation, established by Sheikha Mozah bint Nasser Al-Missned.
[3] A reference to the special conference on Gaza called by Qatar on January 16, 2009.
