IslamOnline staff strike over editorial independence

Staff at the Cairo-based IslamOnline website have gone on strike over what they claim are moves by the site’s management to push for a more conservative editorial line.

The Islamonline.net, which draws over 120,000 visitors a day, was plunged into chaos following an attempt by the website’s bosses in Qatar to take control of the site’s content away from its editorial offices in Egypt.

The move would involve many of the company’s 350 employees losing their jobs. Angry staff, who have staged a sit-in at the editorial offices, claimed the layoffs were part of efforts by conservative elements in the Gulf to reposition the media outlet, which had a reputation for voicing liberal and reformist voices within the Islamic world, the Guardian reports.

“This is not an issue of money,” journalist Fathi Abu Hatab told the Guardian via telephone from the website’s offices. “It’s a matter of editorial independence and media ethics, and we are not going to back down. They are trying to hijack IslamOnline, and we are resisting.”

There was no immediate comment from officials at the company, which is chaired by Qatari Egyptian-born Muslim cleric Youssef Al Qaradawi.

IslamOnline has own in popularity among Muslims since it started in late 1990s.

The multilingual site offers Muslims a wide range of online guidance on political, family and social issues.

Until now it enjoyed a degree of independence from the political and religious views of its owners.

Protesters claim that Qatar plans to control the site and impose a new editorial policy on it.

“We call on the Egyptian government to interfere in order to stop this plan and solve our problem with the Qatari owners,” one striker, who gave his name only as Ahmed, told Gulf News.

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