Al Manar Follows Hezbollah's Lead

The biggest story for the past two days on Al Manar’s website has been the International Criminal Court’s decision to issue a warrant for Sudanese President Omar Hassan Ahmad Al-Bashir. Al Manar’s online coverage of ICC proceedings against Al-Bashir has changed remarkably since Hezbollah came out publicly condemning the ICC decision.

On March 3rd, in anticipation of the ICC warrant, Al Manar covered ICC Prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo’s statements on his strong case against Al-Bashir. The story, entitled “ICC Has 'Strong Evidence' against Sudan's Beshir: Prosecutor,” covered both Ocampo’s statements and Al-Bashir’s reaction, as well as a concluding remark about the death toll in Darfur and a quote from Desmond Tutu where he says it is shameful how many African leaders are supportive of Al-Bashir. The report also refers to the protests staged in Sudan’s capital, Khartoum as “an apparent show of support for the president who seized power in a coup.” This article appears fairly even-handed, with slight tones of support for the ICC.


On March 4th, the day the warrant was issued, there was a lengthy story at the top of the news homepage, “ICC Issues Arrest Warrant for Beshir; Sudan Dismisses Move,” which explained the situation and provided a wide range of perspectives, including the African Union, the Sudanese government, the ICC, and human rights groups. While the story gave more coverage to viewpoints dismissive of the ICC decision, it did expose readers to viewpoints supportive of the ICC.


However, today, Hezbollah has taken a stance and declared itself strongly opposed to the ICC proceedings against Al-Bashir, so Al Manar’s online coverage has changed to reflect Hezbollah’s viewpoint. The top story today was entitled “Hezbollah Denounces Arrest Warrant Against Beshir” and the story detailed Hezbollah’s vehement denouncement of the ICC decision, which Hezbollah feels is

“an obvious suspicious attempt to blow up the situation in the province and to threaten Sudan's sovereignty and territorial integrity through the promotion of separatism."

The story only offered Hezbollah’s viewpoint and provided multiple reasons why the ICC proceedings are illegitimate, by drawing into bigger themes such as distrust of the U.S. and Israel.

Additionally, the second most prominent story today was also a rejection of the ICC warrant for Al-Bashir, entitled “Arrest Warrant Draws Global Scorn, Beshir Joins Mass Rally,” details all of the nations and organizations opposed to ICC proceedings and concludes that the legal basis for the ICC proceedings are undeveloped. The article implies that the rejection of the ICC decision is common among Arab leaders and is part of a show of Arab unity with Sudan’s Arab President and is trying to gain legitimacy for the cause it is championing by showing the array of voices both in the Arab world as well as outside of it who share Hezbollah’s perspective.