LONDON, Nov 26: The director of Arab satellite channel Al Jazeera said on Saturday he would write to British Prime Minister Tony Blair to demand publication of a memo allegedly referring to US plans to bomb the station’s headquarters.

“The letter will say that Al Jazeera has been working for the last nine years, it is the foremost forum of democracy in the Arab world, and therefore this news that we have heard is very concerning,” Wadhah Khanfar told BBC radio.

“So we demand a proper explanation and we would like to know the facts.”

The Daily Mirror on Wednesday reported the existence of the memo which summarized a conversation between Mr Blair and US President George Bush in which the latter was reported to have wanted to bomb Al Jazeera’s Qatar headquarters.

The British government has threatened to prosecute newspapers if they reveal further details of the leaked document.

“We need to know if this discussion has taken place or not, if this document does exist or not. Banning this document from being published does prompt a lot of concern and doubts,” said Mr Khanfar.

“It is of historical value to know exactly what has happened.” —AFP