News / Lebanon

Hezbollah slams removal of Yemeni TV from satellite stream

Tuesday, 12 May 2015 2:44 PM [ Last Update: Tuesday, 12 May 2015 3:01 PM ]

The logo of Lebanon’s resistance movement Hezbollah (file photo)

Lebanese resistance movement Hezbollah has condemned as “pure piracy” the removal of Yemen’s Arabic-language al-Masirah TV from the satellite stream.

Hezbollah’s Media Relations issued a statement on Tuesday, saying Egyptian satellite company Nilesat’s decision to take the Yemeni broadcaster off air is “frantic.”

The channel, which is affiliated to Yemen’s Ansarullah movement, said on its Twitter account that Nilesat suspended its transmission on Sunday evening. Al-Masirah also tweeted that the suspension was a result of “Saudi-American pressure” on the satellite company.

A screen grab from al-Masirah’s broadcast of a speech by Ansarullah leader Abdul-Malik al-Houthi on March 22, 2015

“These persistent attempts prove the channel’s active and effective role in disclosing the terrorist crimes committed by the US-Saudi aggression against Yemeni civilians and institutions,” the statement by Hezbollah added.

The statement said that the move is “pure piracy,” stressing that it violates international laws, which guarantee media freedom.

Nilesat has not explained why it has blocked the channel.

Smoke billows following a Saudi airstrike in the Yemeni capital, Sana’a, on May 11, 2015. (© AFP)

Saudi Arabia started its military aggression against Yemen on March 26 - without a UN mandate - in a bid to undermine the Houthi Ansarullah movement, which currently controls the capital Sana’a and major provinces, and to restore power to Yemen’s fugitive former President Abd Rabbuh Mansour Hadi, who is a staunch ally of Riyadh.

The channel has been broadcasting the images of the victims of and the damage caused by the Saudi aggression against Yemen.

Video-sharing website YouTube also removed the videos and images uploaded by al-Masirah that showed the humanitarian catastrophe in the impoverished Middle Eastern country.

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), the Saudi military campaign has claimed the lives of over 1,200 people so far and injured thousands of others. Hundreds of women and children are among the victims, according to the WHO.

Saudi Arabia has also been blocking the delivery of relief supplies to the war-stricken people of Yemen in defiance of calls by international aid groups.

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