BBC apologises to Ghannouchi for listing his name on terror blacklist

The BBC has issued an apology to the leader of Ennahda, Rached Ghannouchi, after it published a report saying that he was on a terror list drawn up by the four Arab countries blockading Qatar.

Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Egypt and the UAE imposed a land, sea and air blockade on Qatar in June 2016 on the basis that it supports terrorism, which Qatar denies. The terror list details organisations and individuals the four countries accuse of being supported by Doha.

In an apology published in its website on Thursday, BBC stated that “In an article we published on our website and on our social media pages on November 23, 2017 about a blacklist issued by Arab countries which imposed a blockade on Qatar and included organisations and individuals under the pretext of being extremists and terrorists, we have mistakenly written that the name of Mr. Rached Ghannouchi, leader of the Tunisian Ennahda Movement, was listed in that blacklist.”

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The BBC confirmed that “Ghannouchi’s name is not on the list and there is no intentional hint to accuse him of having been involved in terrorist activities”.

It added: “The BBC has acknowledged the mistake and has taken steps to correct it shortly after the publication”. It added: “We apologise to Mr. Ghannouchi for this mistake and for any inconvenience it has caused.”