Irina Malenko: Arabian journalist not permitted to Switzerland for farfetched reason

On Monday, the Western press reported that an Arabian journalist had not been permitted to Switzerland because of the lack of an entry visa. However, the newspapers did not report that the journalist was a Belgian citizen, which means he does not need a visa to enter Switzerland. During Sunday night, the Brussels correspondent of Al-Jazeera TV company phoned to his boss and reported he had been arrested in the Geneva airport. A Swiss police officially confirmed the fact, though without any explanations. The telephone conversation between journalist Ahmed Kamel and the editor was directly translated on the Al-Jazeera TV channel. In the airport, the Belgian citizen of Arabian ethnicity was undressed and imprisoned. He had intended to report from Geneva on the WTO. He had been to Geneva many times before, so he could not understand why now he had been refused to enter the country. “Most likely, because of the fact that my first name is Ahmed, or because I work for Al-Jazeera”. Katar TV station Al-Jazeera is now the only channel in the world that has a correspondent in Kabul. It was criticized by NATO’s politicians because it had shown a video with Osama bin Laden’s speech. Concerning the ruling powers of the world, all the greatly praised freedoms, like freedom of speech, freedom of movement of European citizens inside European Union, and others, turn out to be existing only for white citizens.

Irina Malenko PRAVDA.Ru