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Aljazeera Sacks Yvonne Ridley Freedom of Expression at its best... Sister Yvonne Ridley, a senior editor with Aljazeera’s newly launched English website in Doha, Qatar, has been sacked by her Gulf bosses. The journalist, who rose to international fame in September 2001 when she was captured by the Taliban in Afghanistan, joined the website in July. Last night Sister Yvonne said she was bewildered and hurt but until she had written confirmation of being fired and the reasons why, she was unable to comment further. In the last two years Yvonne has become an international peace campaigner and anti-war activist sharing platform with high profile personalities including the Rev. Jesse Jackson, British politicians George Galloway and Tony Benn, Palestinian activist Leila Khaled, and Ahmed Ben Bella, former Algerian President and revolutionary leader. Her anti-Bush views are universally known and there are fears among colleagues that her vocal criticisms of the war in Iraq and Afghanistan may have led to her demise. Exclusive stories and pictures revealing US soldiers searching and tying up Iraqi and Afghani children have been condemned by the US Central Command. ‘It is not beyond the bounds of possibility that Ridley’s revealing stories have led to her downfall. The site has already pulled two anti-American caricatures after managers received pressure from the Americans,’ said one source close to Aljazeera. The man responsible for sacking Sister Yvonne is Abdulaziz Ibrahim Al-Mahmoud who issued the order but did not have the guts to confront her with it, instead he sent his secretary to deliver the news to Sister Yvonne’s home in Doha. Al-Mahmoud is not a big fan of hers after she derided him for shopping in Marks and Spencer during a recent trip to London with his eager-to-please sidekick Ahmed Sheikh. Marks and Spencer is the famous Israel-supporting shop which is boycotted by many Muslims in the UK! In recent weeks Al Mahmoud has escorted two parties from the US embassy around the offices of Aljazeera, giving Sister Yvonne’s work station a wide berth because of its anti-war and anti Bush messages as well as a Palestinian flag situated there prominently! The regime in Saudi Arabia has also not escaped Sister Yvonne’s attention - something not lost on Al-Mahmoud who was refused entry to the Kingdom recently. But who is Yvonne Ridley?! Yvonne Ridley was a journalist of the famous Londoner Mirror newspaper. She was captured by the Taliban when she went undercover into the country wearing the all-enveloping burqa dress of an Afghan woman. She was detected and was held for 10 days before being released on humanitarian grounds on the orders of Mulla Umar. Her outspoken views are welknown, especially those praising and supporting Palestinian martyrdom operations. She has endeared herself to the Muslim world and is a recent convert to Islam. Sister Yvonne has devoted much of her spare time and energy to helping brothers and sisters around the world. Now it is OUR turn to stand staunchly by her side. At least we should demand answers from Aljazeera as to why she was sacked. What you can do... Email: Mr. Jihad Ballout, the spokesman for Aljazeera on jballout@aljazeera.net with your questions. cc: copy to the Yankee-loving, Zionist weasel who started it all... Al-Mahmoud, chief editor on chiefnet@aljazeera.net cc: to his ever-loyal sidekick pseudo-Palestinian and armchair jihadi ahmedsh@aljazeera.net Extracted 11/18/03 from News From Bangladesh
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