US embassy cable - 05PARIS8186

S E C R E T PARIS 008186 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 12/01/2015 
TAGS: ASEC, PREL, PTER, FR, LE 
SUBJECT: FRENCH CONTINUE TO BAN AL-MANAR, ALTHOUGH APPEAL 
PENDING 
 
REF: A. STATE 216186 
 
     B. STATE 216191 
     C. PARIS 6933 
 
Classified By: POLITICAL MINISTER COUNSELOR JOSIAH ROSENBLATT, FOR REAS 
ONS 1.4 B/D 
 
1. (S) We discussed reftel points on preventing Al Manar 
broadcasts with CSA (France's FCC-equivalent) and MFA 
contacts on December 2.  We stressed the importance of France 
continuing its ban on Al Manar. 
 
2. (S) Isabel Mariani, international affairs liaison at the 
CSA, confirmed that, as reported in ref C, the Conseil d'Etat 
(France's highest administrative court) had not yet made a 
decision on Al Manar's appeal of the CSA's December 2004 
decision to ban it from French airwaves.  Mariani said CSA 
was eagerly awaiting the Conseil d'Etat's decision, and 
expected it "before Christmas." 
 
3. (S) In a separate December 2 discussion with poloff, MFA 
Lebanon desk officer Remy Bouallegue expressed general 
agreement with reftel points and stressed that the CSA ban on 
Al Manar reflected the GOF's ongoing battle against 
discrimination and anti-Semitism.  He added that Hizballah's 
hardening position and recent suburban unrest in France, in 
his view, made it highly unlikely that the Conseil d'Etat 
would reverse the CSA ban, though the court remained 
independent.  Bouallegue added that the GoF supported 
"europeanizing" the Al Manar ban.  This remained an issue 
still to be resolved in Brussels, complicated, said 
Bouallegue, by complex EU audio-visual regulations.  In the 
GoF's view, the Al Manar ban was a question of public order, 
and it should not be left to individual European governments 
to take action against the station and its satellite carriers. 
Please visit Paris' Classified Website at: 
http://www.state.sgov.gov/p/eur/paris/index.c fm 
 
Stapleton