In an update posted to its site this morning Doha News announced that Vodafone and Ooredoo have reached out with official statements addressing the blocking of its domain in Qatar. According to the heads of both telecom companies the decision to block the news site was not one of censorship, but rather due to the issue of proper licensing as a media company in Qatar.

As stated in the article, Waleed Al-Sayed, CEO of Ooredoo, issued the following remarks: “We can confirm that access to the Doha News website is currently restricted in Qatar, due to concerns raised regarding the licensing of your organization. The two authorities best-placed to help you resolve this issue are the Ministry of Culture and the Ministry of Economy and Commerce.”

Speaking on behalf of Vodafone Qatar, CEO Ian Gray was quoted in a separate statement in the Doha News post supporting the same: “As you are aware, access to the Doha News website across the network of Vodafone Qatar Q.S.C. is currently blocked. We kindly suggest that you make contact and liaise directly with the Ministry of Culture and also the Ministry of Economy and Commerce. We will be pleased to unblock access once the requirements of the relevant concerned parties have been met.”

Currently, the site has been inaccessible in Qatar since Wednesday, November 30, 2016, with access attainable only to those outside the country, or with access to a Virtual Private Network (VPN). Since then, Doha News has reached out to its readers using alternate platforms such as Medium.com, Apple News, Google Play Newsstand for Android devices, Google AMP mobile browser, and through its daily newsletter.

We want to know your thoughts about these latest developments. Let us know what you think in the comments section below.

Source: Doha News

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Ashlee

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