September 24, 2003	Wednesday	Rajab 26, 1424

BAGHDAD, Sept 23: Iraq’s US-installed Governing Council on Tuesday banned the Arab satellite TV stations Al Jazeera and Al Arabiya from covering government activities here for two weeks, a statement said.

It said the action was taken as a warning to them and other broadcasters for allegedly inciting anti-US violence, but stopped short of closing their bureaus here as announced earlier by a government spokesman.

“Al-Jazeera and Al-Arabiya will temporarily be excluded from any coverage of Governing Council activities or official press conferences, and correspondents of the two channels will not be allowed to enter ministries or government offices for two weeks,” it said.

The statement made no mention of coverage of US military activities or the workings of the Coalition Provisional Authority that runs the occupied country.

Major William Thurmond, a spokesman, said the stations would still have access to military coverage.

The Governing Council statement was signed by Ayad Allawi, head of the body’s security committee, and was dated effective Tuesday.

“The Governing Council is very worried about the irresponsible behaviour of some media, especially Al-Jazeera and Al-Arabiya,” the statement said.

It said the two stations are “considered to have violated the rules and criteria that the media should respect to continue to work in Iraq.”—AFP