Qatar victory as Saudi's Al Arabiya surrenders UK broadcasting licence

The Saudi owned Al Arabiya News Channel has surrendered with immediate affect its UK broadcasting licence held with regulator Ofcom after Qatar complained that it was “violating impartiality code and accuracy in news sourcing”.

The complaint came following the channels’ recent transmission for what Qatar News Agency (QNA) described as “baseless statements”, which were falsely attributed to the Emir of Qatar Sheikh Tamim Bin Hamad Al Thani after the agency was hacked on 24 May 2017.

The surrendering of the license by Al Arabiya, a Dubai-based satellite broadcaster owned by Saudi businessmen, was to avoid an investigation which could have resulted in the imposition of substantial fines and other penalties and the revocation of its licence.

Following the surrender of its licence, Al Arabiya is no longer able to broadcast in the UK or elsewhere in the European Union.

Read: Is Al-Arabiya Network really a refreshing alternative?

On 5 June last year, Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Bahrain and Egypt began a boycott of Qatar referring to the statements which were attributed to Al Thani as the basis for their action. The countries cut off all diplomatic and trade ties with their Gulf neighbour.

Late last month, Al Arabiya was fined £120,000 ($170,000) by Ofcom for screening “confessions” made by jailed Bahraini opposition leader Hassan Mushaima which were extracted under torture, and passing the footage off as an interview with one of its reporters.