Qatar files complaint to ICAO over Al Arabiya airspace report

Qatar has raised a complaint to the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) for the second time after an animation video that Al Arabiya Channel aired earlier this month.

Qatar’s complaint stipulates that the video in question allegedly claims to take-down Qatari carriers upon entering boycotting countries’ airspace and has raised fears among passengers.

READ ALSO: The Independent manipulates Al Arabiya TV report on the Qatar crisis

Qatar had previously complained to the ICAO after Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Bahrain and Egypt cut diplomatic and transport ties with Qatar in June.

The complaint touched upon and reviewed international conventions and treaties on the protection of civil aviation. Qatar aimed to demonstrate that the Arab quartet, through the Al Arabiya News Channel report, has violated these treaties.

This was the stance that Qatar’s complaint has taken.

Yet, the reality of the situation is that Al Arabiya News Channel aired the report reviewed the international laws concerning the right of countries to deal with any aircraft that penetrates its sovereign airspace and the procedures available in this regard.

Misinterpretation
Meanwhile, it appears as though the Qatari complaint seems to have been based on the same confusion that The Independent newspaper had in reporting on the video.

The newspaper took the report entirely out of context, saying that an animation presenting these options showed a “Saudi fighter jet shooting down a Qatari civilian aircraft.”

The Independent misleadingly mixed and matched different parts of the animation when describing the report.

It merged a scene showing a fighter jet forcing a Qatari plane to leave unauthorized airspace with another that explains how international law permits a country to fire at hostile aircrafts.

It failed to note Al Arabiya’s distinction in the animation, which clearly showed a fighter jet tailing an aircraft with no logo in the second scene.

source: Alarabiya