Hetq Online Blocked in United Arab Emirates
A1 Plus says that Hetq Online, one of the publications I work for in Armenia, has been blocked by the United Arab Emirates (UAE) government. According to the news agency, when someone attempts to access the site which has been prolific in reporting on the trafficking of Armenian women and children to Dubai, the following message is instead displayed.
“We bring our apologies but the site you are going to open has been blocked, as its contents conflicts with the religious, cultural, political and moral values of the UAE.”
In actual fact, it has been Hetq Online’s investigation into trafficking that is the real reason for the site being blocked.
[…] journalists found out that Dubai policemen and members of the migration services are involved in these criminal activities.”
[…]
We appeal to the UAE authorities to raise the taboo off the Hetq website and appeal to international organizations to urge the UAE leadership not to “clear” internet from critical articles about their country’, the statement issued by Hetq staff says.
Hetq Online’s full series of articles investigating the trafficking of women and children from Armenia to the United Arab Emirates (UAE) can be read online here. A documentary film by Edik Baghdasarian, Hetq’s Editor in Chief, and Ara Manoogian over at Martuni or Bust was also shown on Yerkir Media TV in Armenia.
