Clandestine Radio Watch 198 Extra B

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CLANDESTINE RADIO WATCH 198 Exta B
January 25, 2006

CRW is the biweekly online magazine for ClandestineRadio.com, the Web's
only portal on clandestine broadcasting and subversive media.

http://www.ClandestineRadio.com

The full online issue can be read at:
http://www.ClandestineRadio.com/crw/crw.php?id=279

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Libya's Sowt Alamel Returns Despite Qaddafi's Attacks
By Nick Grace, CRW Washington
January 25, 2006

Forced off satellite by a sophisticated and agressive jamming campaign
orchestrated by the government of Libya, Sowt Alamel, Libya's Voice of
Hope, returned to the airwaves today after weeks of silence.

Response from listeners inside Libya, who were alerted in advance to the
station's return through articles in the online Arabic-language press,
has been positive.  According to station director Jalal El Giathi, one
listener wrote to say that the programs "are like fresh air that clears
the pollution of the regime's propaganda."

Independent media and the freedom of speech are not permitted in Libya.
Journalists brave enough to counter the regime's lines are routinely
imprisoned and, in many cases, murdered.

In order to remain on the air, Sowt Alamel had to turn to short wave.
Originally broadcast on satellite, its feed was intentionally jammed by
Tripoli, resulting in widespread disruptions that affected BBC, ESPN, CNN
and U.S. and U.K. diplomatic and military communications traffic sharing
the same satellite.  Sowt Alamel was removed from the airwaves by the
satellite provider and placed on a different satellite, which also
suffered from the jamming attacks. The station was then ordered to
"voluntarily" suspend its programs.

Intentional jamming of broadcast and communications traffic is a
violation of the International Telecommunications Union regulations,
which Libya is a signatory. Diplomatic efforts by Washington and London
to bring Tripoli into compliance, however, resulted in no assurances that
it would stop.

"We must keep fighting," El Giathi said. "We cannot stop what we are
doing because the regime does not want us on the air. That is exactly why
we are on the air in the first place."

The station's daily programs are broadcast from an undisclosed
transmitter site between 1700 and 1900 GMT on either 17660 or 17720 kHz.

------------xxxxxxxxxx Team CRW xxxxxxxxxx---------------------

Martin Schoech, Editor in Chief
Nick Grace, CRW Washington
Marwan Soliman, CRW Middle East
Takuya Hirayama, CRW Japan
Richard Lafayette, Global Crisis Watch

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