Speaking in an interview with FNA, Sondoss al-Asaad said the resistance media is “the mirror of truth and the voice of peoples”, and added that the measure taken by US Department of Justice “reveals the hollow slogans raised by American officials regarding freedom of information and freedom of opinion and expression, and exposes its hypocrisy and intransigence when it comes to the freedoms of the colonized nations”.
Sondoss al-Asaad is a Lebanese-Bahraini freelance journalist and political analyst and translator, based in the capital Beirut, Lebanon. She writes on issues of the Arabs and Muslims world, with special focus on the Bahraini uprising.
Below is the full text of the interview:
Q: The US has taken censorship to a new level, deplatfroming a number of resistance front's media and seizing their dot come domains. Why does the US confront the independent media particularly in West Asia?
A: The United States of America is a colonial system and has always striven, by all vicious means, to dominate the capabilities of the peoples of West Asia, destroy their culture, and target their wealth. The media, in particular, was not spared from this colonial doctrine, as it is the mirror of truth and the voice of peoples, in a flagrant and disgraceful violation of the freedom of media and expression of opinion and the right of these peoples to freely access information and news. This arbitrarily step, which aims to obscure the truth and obfuscate free media, is evidence of weakness and Washington's fear of the word of truth and resistance. It also reveals the hollow slogans raised by American officials regarding freedom of information and freedom of opinion and expression, and exposes its hypocrisy and intransigence when it comes to the freedoms of the colonized nations. Taking such a step at this crucial time raises suspicion of its motives, and reinforces speculation that Biden is no different and its administrations has malicious intentions to escalate its predecessors' hegemonic schemes against the region, away from the eyes of a free media committed to peoples’ plights and miseries.
Q: How do you believe this act of censorship and attack on freedom of speech by the US will affect the resistance front?
A: All attempts at media blackout will inevitably fail to silence peoples, and this miserable move will fail to influence the determination of the resistance-axis media, which has definitely played a major role in confronting the occupation and schemes of domination. It has been indeed the real partner in liberation and in engineering glorious victories over the Zionists and the Americans. Further, it continues to play an honorable role in the battle of sacred defense, and has even sacrificed many martyrs in this way. This move cannot undermine the solidity of this media against the US's scandalous methodology and conspiracies of arrogance. So instead of being thanked for our efforts in confronting colonialism, we are fought and targeted and described as terrorist organizations. However, this unjust crime would never frustrate us as anti-colonial journalists, and would never paralyze our will, or discourage us from doing our duty to reveal the truth and defend our oppressed and vulnerable peoples. For this lofty creed, and without these sacrifices, our homelands would have been fully dominated by the US.
Q: How do you evaluate American version of freedom of expression, when it attempts to silence resistance front’s voices?
A: The United States must stop its lies and hypocrisy when it comes to freedom of opinion and expression in our region. This matter has been felt when it ignored the grievances of our Arab peoples, especially the grievances of the people of Bahrain, and today it targets LuaLua TV Channel, a platform that exposes the repressive, dictatorial and family-oriented practices of Manama regime. The people of Bahrain have suffered for many years from the scourge of aggression and blatant interference in their internal affairs by the US, which has moved its tools in the region - the Saudi and Emirati regimes - to carry out this repression mission against the people. For instance, top opposition leader Sheikh Ali Salman is currently imprisoned in a fabricated case while the United States remains silent despite his innocence. Over the past ten years, the free people in Bahrain continue to carry the torch of revolution as they struggle with the repressive regime to gain freedom despite the grave sacrifices and pain. Because of the role played by the targeted LuaLua TV, their peaceful uprising had become an inspiration to all the free people of the world, drawing from their determination, solid will, insistence on freedom, virtuous principles and honorable values. This was only possible thanks to the role played by the opposition media in its coverage of the popular movement demanding a new constitution and free elections. Here we point out that the majority of those who are tried and targeted in Bahrain and sentenced to death and life sentences in violation are among the media professionals who stood up for the right and the oppressed in the face of oppression and dictatorship of al-Khalifa.
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