A Day's Work on the Battlefield; Al Jazeera Refuses to be Silenced

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It takes a special breed of journalists to report from the war zone. In an environment of constant bombing, certain chaos and hardly visible conclusion, a select few set out to the dangerous task of informing the rest of the world.

While most people flock away from the horrific scenes that accompany every war, the foreign correspondent is instead drawn to them like a moth to the flame. He remains as long as possible, hovering in the vicinity while living in a mixture of fear and exhilaration, prediction and hope, even if only to secure a last snapshot or capture the right moment.

Such was the case for Taysir Alluni. One of the last reporters to leave Kabul in the wake of the American invasion, the foreign correspondent for Al Jazeera - a Qatar based news network - covered the suffering of the Afghani people extensively. During a period of relative silence from the Western media, it is rumoured that Alluni’s coverage raised eyebrows. In a notable departure from the mainstream, Al JAzeera continued to air the shocking live images of maimed children, charred land and the consequences of war unhampered by American warnings.

A Syrian born Spanish citizen, Alluni is widely recognized as the first to interview Osama Bin Laden only weeks after 9/11. What may easily have passed as another day at the office, and surely an assignment to inspire any journalist, would become an important event not only for the man, but the issue of press freedom as a whole.

What is essentially a forum for public debate; the media has found itself increasingly restricted in coverage of war. It has become quite a risky business. Coalition forces in Baghdad host a number of “embedded journalists” – a Pentagon term for the few who are not targeted by the military – and care little about the rest. Already, seventy two journalists have died on duty. Alluni himself barely escaped the bombing of Al Jazeera’s Baghdad office during his last days on the battlefield which is Iraq.

Surely exhausted and mentally spent from many a death experience, Alluni returned to Spain where he found himself accused of collaborating with, and membership of, his very own sources. The irony of his predicament is inescapable. Logically, the search for truth which is journalism leads to a variety of sources and the more the merrier. Yet this professional norm, and rather obvious conclusion, has been instead twisted into an image of corruption, espionage and malpractice.

He has spent over a year in Spanish custody where he still maintains his innocence, saying “If I am sentenced here, then I am paying simply for my job”. Al Jazeera, human rights groups and the Paris based Reporters Without Borders insist that the evidence is “circumstantial”.

He was hardly alone though. Twenty four men stood accused by the Spanish High Court of aiding terrorism in what has been labelled “Europe’s Biggest Al Qaida Trial” by the media. Its conclusion has found eighteen men, all of Arabic descent, receiving sentences ranging from Aluuni’s six to thirty five years. The rest were acquitted.

The trial has sparked a flurry of support for both Taysir Alluni and his employers. Instead of creating the impression of a loathsome, hostile Al JAzeera, the bombing of its offices, murder of its cameraman and six year sentence against its correspondent seems to have backfired. What emerges is a relatively small yet passionately adamant news network that refuses to be quiet.