FRENCH CONTINUE TO BAN AL-MANAR, ALTHOUGH APPEAL

S E C R E T PARIS 008186

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 12/01/2015
TAGS: ASEC PREL PTER FR LE
SUBJECT: FRENCH CONTINUE TO BAN AL-MANAR, ALTHOUGH APPEAL
PENDING

REF: A. STATE 216186


B. STATE 216191

C. PARIS 6933

Classified By: POLITICAL MINISTER COUNSELOR JOSIAH ROSENBLATT, FOR REAS
ONS 1.4 B/D


1. (S) We discussed reftel points on preventing Al Manar
broadcasts with CSA (France's FCC-equivalent) and MFA
contacts on December 2. We stressed the importance of France
continuing its ban on Al Manar.


2. (S) Isabel Mariani, international affairs liaison at the
CSA, confirmed that, as reported in ref C, the Conseil d'Etat
(France's highest administrative court) had not yet made a
decision on Al Manar's appeal of the CSA's December 2004
decision to ban it from French airwaves. Mariani said CSA
was eagerly awaiting the Conseil d'Etat's decision, and
expected it "before Christmas."


3. (S) In a separate December 2 discussion with poloff, MFA
Lebanon desk officer Remy Bouallegue expressed general
agreement with reftel points and stressed that the CSA ban on
Al Manar reflected the GOF's ongoing battle against
discrimination and anti-Semitism. He added that Hizballah's
hardening position and recent suburban unrest in France, in
his view, made it highly unlikely that the Conseil d'Etat
would reverse the CSA ban, though the court remained
independent. Bouallegue added that the GoF supported
"europeanizing" the Al Manar ban. This remained an issue
still to be resolved in Brussels, complicated, said
Bouallegue, by complex EU audio-visual regulations. In the
GoF's view, the Al Manar ban was a question of public order,
and it should not be left to individual European governments
to take action against the station and its satellite carriers.
Please visit Paris' Classified Website at:
http://www.state.sgov.gov/p/eur/paris/index.c fm

Stapleton