Saudi Arabia to close Al-Jazeera's offices

The Saudi Arabian general authority for audio and visual media has issued an order to close the office of the Qatari network Al-Jazeera and to cancel its working permit in the Kingdom.

The editor-in-chief of the London-based Al-Arab newspaper, Abdulaziz Khamees, tweeted confirmation that: “the Saudi authority for audio and visual media has issued an order to close Al-Jazeera’s offices in Saudi Arabia and to cancel its working permit.”

Media reports claim that the UAE and Bahrain will soon take similar actions to prevent Al-Jazeera from operating on their territories.

The Saudi decision comes only days after Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Bahrain withdrew their envoys to Qatar in protest of what they say is interference in their internal affairs by the Qatari government and Al-Jazeera.

However, Qatari diplomatic sources claim that the current dispute between the Gulf States and Qatar is over its hostile position of the military coup in Egypt.