A soap opera which sparked threats by an Islamist group was mired in more controversy yesterday when two Arab television networks accused the financiers and producers of breach of contract for failing to deliver more episodes. One network, the MBC (Middle East Broadcasting Center), launched a scathing attack on the series' Qatari financiers and Jordanian producers after it was forced to suspend broadcast of the new episodes of the "The Road to Kabul", a love story set in Taleban-ruled Afghanistan.
| "We will strike, God willing, satellite channels showing this soap opera and their correspondents as well as their offices in Iraq and Syria..." |
The Orbit network, which is also Saudi-owned, said it would sue "the financing and distributing party" without making clear if the lawsuit would be against both sides. "Qatar Television, which funded the series, and the Arab Audio-Visual Center, the producer and distributor, breached their commitment to deliver all the episodes before the date set for broadcasting during the (current fasting) month of Ramadan," MBC said. MBC said it had aired the eight episodes it had received but has now been forced to suspend the broadcasts "due to the refusal of the financing and producing companies to supply us the remaining episodes without giving a convincing reason." When MBC demanded to be handed the remaining episodes, it was told by Qatar TV that work on the soap had "stopped for technical reasons, which is not true at all and was publicly refuted by the series director ... and its producer," the Dubai-based station added.
Qatar's state television and its Jordanian counterpart said last week they would not broadcast "The Road to Kabul". A previously unknown group calling itself the Mujahedeen Brigades of Iraq and Syria has issued a stark warning to the program's makers in a statement posted on the Internet on the first day of Ramadan. "This is a warning for all those who contributed to making this soap opera, actors, producers, cameramen, if it contains insults to the Taleban. We will strike, God willing, satellite channels showing this soap opera and their correspondents as well as their offices in Iraq and Syria," the statement said. |