Congo bans Al Jazeera over its interview with a key rebel leader and threatens journalists Congo on Thursday banned Al Jazeera satellite news network over its interview with the leader of a violent rebel group that has seized territory in the country's east in recent days.
Separately, Congo's justice minister threatened journalists and others who report on the M23 rebels with the death penalty, though there is no law officially banning media from covering rebel groups.
Al Jazeera on Wednesday aired an interview with Bertrand Bisimwa, the head of the M23 rebel movement in the eastern Congo.
Hours earlier, Congo's Justice Minister Constant Mutamba said on the social media platform X that anyone who reports on "the activities of the Rwandan army and its M23 auxiliaries, will now suffer the full force of the law (DEATH PENALTY).
Al Jazeera's interview with Bisimwa was ”tantamount to an apology for terrorism and totally unacceptable,” Muyaya told a news conference, urging journalists not to “give the floor to terrorists.”.
