BAGHDAD, Nov 5: Iraq's interior ministry ordered two television stations off the air on Sunday on the grounds they were inciting violence after Saddam Hussein was sentenced to death, a ministry spokesman said.

One channel is controlled by a prominent Sunni Arab politician and the other is based in Saddam's Sunni home region.

"Let them reject the verdict, they have the right, but don't talk about 'mujahideen' and 'resistance'," said ministry spokesman Abdul Karim Khalaf, accusing the stations of giving a platform to people who were making threats of violence.

"They are hosting people who are talking about something that is completely distinct from politics, calling for violence and killing," Khalaf said, adding that security forces had been despatched to enforce the closure orders.

Within hours, the two channels were showing a message saying they had been closed by order of the government.

A journalist at Salahaddin said Iraqi security forces had come to the office and ordered them to stop broadcasting.—Reuters