Akram Khuzam

Akram Khuzam ( _ar. أكرم خزام) was the Al Jazeera Channel's former Moscow Bureau chief. He served as the Bureau Chief in Moscow for 9 years until he was replaced in a storm of controversy by Amro Abdel-Hamid in late September 2005. [http://www.akhbaruna.com/node/74 دماء جديدة في (الجزيرة)] "Akhbaruna", September 20 2005 - an Arab language Russian news site that addresses human rights issues.] Khuzam was famous for ending his reports by saying "...Akram Khuzam, Aljazeera, Moscow." [http://angryarab.blogspot.com/2005/09/did-al-jazeera-tv-fire-its-moscow.html Did Al-Jazeera TV fire its Moscow correspondent?] , "Angry Arab News Service", September 21 2005 - a blog site]

Anti-Muslim statements

Akram Khuzam angered the Muslim community in Russia in 2004 after he declared to a Russian TV channel that Islam promotes terrorism and that the Qur'an incite violence. He also said that three of the Muslim Caliphs were killed in internal terrorist conflicts. Mr. Geidar Dzhemal, the head of the Islamic Committee of Russia, asked Al Jazeera to fire Mr. Khuzam. [http://www.kommersant.com/page.asp?idr=35&id=610306 Aljazeera Moscow Chief Fired] , "Kommersant", September 20 2005] Al Jazeera stated that the replacement of Akram Khuzam in September 2005 was not related to the complaints raised by the Islamic Committee and was unrelated to Mr Khuzam's statements.

Replaced as Moscow Bureau Chief

On the 20 September 2005 the news broke that Akram Khuzam was being replaced as the AlJazeera Moscow Bureau Chief. Initial reports incorrectly indicated that Mr. Khuzam had been fired but the Arabic site Akhbaruna confirmed that Mr. Khuzam had just been moved into a different role. [http://www.akhbaruna.com/node/74 دماء جديدة في (الجزيرة)] "Akhbaruna", September 20 2005 - an Arab language Russian news site that addresses human rights issues.]

It emerged that Al Jazeera had been concerned about the way the former Soviet bloc was being covered and wanted to invigorate its coverage by recruiting the widely acclaimed Russian Arab journalist Amro Abdel-Hamid to replace Akram Khuzam. Mr. Abdel-Hamid was formerly the head of the Al-Arabiya office in Moscow before joining Al Jazeera.

References

External links

* [http://www.friendsofaljazeera.org/node/292 Akram Khuzam and Al Jazeera - the inside story]
* [http://www.friendsofaljazeera.org/node/298 Akram Khuzam gets replaced by former Al-Arabiya correspondent]