Syria revokes BBC accreditation over alleged bias after report on high-level ties to drug trade
BEIRUT (AP) — Syria’s Information Ministry revoked the BBC’s media accreditation, days after the British public broadcaster aired a report linking members of Syrian President Bashar Assad’s family and senior army officials to the production and smuggling of illicit drugs.
The documentary, broadcast in late June, describes a multibillion dollar business involving the highly addictive amphetamine known as Captagon
The Syrian ministry said it revoked the BBC’s accreditation after repeated warnings about what it claimed were “misleading reports relying on statements and testimonies from terrorist entities and those hostile to Syria.” The ministry made no mention of the documentary and did not back up its claims of biased reporting.
The BBC dismissed the ministry’s allegations, saying it provides impartial and independent journalism.
“We speak to people across the political spectrum to establish the facts,” the BBC said in a statement emailed to The Associated Press over the weekend. ”We will continue to provide impartial news and information to our audiences across the Arabic-speaking world”.
The BBC’s radio and television correspondents as well as its videographer lost their accreditation.
The production and smuggling of Captagon pills has blossomed in war-torn Syria in recent years. Experts say it is a source of revenue for the country’s crippled economy and sanctioned leadership. Neighboring Jordan and Saudi Arabia, as well as other Gulf countries, have long complained about the scourge of the cheap drugs from Syria.
Captagon is used as a recreational drug, but also by fighters on the battlefield and by manual laborers.
The United Kingdom, United States, and European Union have sanctioned a handful of drug kingpins and close associates of Assad for their involvement in the trade.
The Syrian government denies any involvement in the production of Captagon. A Syrian lawmaker told the AP last month that Syria has been used as a transit state for Captagon and other drugs, and accused opposition groups of running the industry.
After Syria restored relations with many of its neighboring countries and returned to the Arab fold, cracking down on drug smuggling has been a key issue in regional talks.
Syria’s uprising which turned into a full-blown civil war, now in its 13th year, has killed nearly half a million people and displaced half of the country’s prewar population of 23 million. Syrians in both government-held territory and an opposition-held enclave in the country’s northwest suffer from rampant poverty and crippled infrastructure.
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Associated Press writer Jill Lawless in London contributed to this report.