Al Jazeera Mubasher Misr suspends transmission

CAIRO 

The Doha-based Al Jazeera Mubasher Misr news channel, devoted to covering news from Egypt, said Monday that it was suspending broadcasts from the Qatari capital until "conditions are favorable" for resuming work from Egypt.

In a statement, the channel said it had broadcast its last news bulletin from Doha and would close down its Doha office until "conditions are favorable" for resuming broadcasts from Cairo.

The statement added that the channel would resume broadcasting from Cairo "after obtaining the necessary licenses in coordination with the Egyptian authorities."

Egyptian authorities had closed the Cairo office of Al Jazeera Mubasher Misr following last year's ouster of former President Mohamed Morsi by the military.

Relations between Cairo and Doha have deteriorated markedly since the ouster of Morsi, a leader of Egypt's now-outlawed Muslim Brotherhood movement.

Egypt had accused Doha of interfering in its affairs by supporting the Brotherhood and hosting a number of wanted Brotherhood figures following Morsi's ouster.

In a September interview with CNN held on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly in New York, Qatari Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani described Morsi's ouster as a "military coup."

Cairo has been incensed by Qatar's coverage of developments in Egypt and what it describes as biased news coverage by Al Jazeera's Mubasher Misr channel.

Relations began to improve between Egypt and Qatar in recent months following mediation efforts by Arab Gulf countries.

On Saturday, Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah al-Sisi met in Cairo with an envoy from Qatar's emir for the first time since assuming the presidency in June.

www.aa.com.tr/en