Rabat: Moroccan government has denied any political reason behind its decision to suspend the broadcasts of Arab satellite news channel Al Jazeera's Maghreb news programme from Rabat.

"There is no need to give this decision a political dimension," Communication Minister and Government Spokesman Khalid Naciri here Thursday adding that the channel was well received by the kingdom as part of Morocco's remarkable democratic openness.

Though, he attributed the decision to some technical and legal reasons.

Recalling that the channel had operated, since the launch of its news bulletin from Rabat in November 2006, under temporary licences, the minister noted that "the legal situation of Al Jazeera in Morocco has not been regularised up to now".

On Tuesday, Al-Jazeera's Rabat bureau received a fax from the National Agency for Telecommunications Regulation (ANRT) informing it that the frequency it uses for broadcasting the Maghreb news programme was being withdrawn because of "technical and legal problems".
Source : PTI