A mysterious TV channel praising Saddam Hussein dropped off satellite airwaves on Tuesday, just three days after it began broadcasting.
The chairman of the so-called Saddam Channel told The Associated Press it will return by the weekend after a technology upgrade to make the broadcast stronger.
But the Web site of a political coalition led by Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki jeered at what it predicted was the end of the TV channel, which began airing on the Islamic calendar’s anniversary of Saddam’s 2006 execution.
“This Baathist channel said goodbye after ... days of its starting,” said the statement on the Web site of the State of Law Coalition, which is led by al-Maliki, a Shiite. “We salute our national government if it participated to close this Baathist channel.”
The head of al-Lafeta TV, which aired the Saddam Channel, has denied that it is bankrolled by Baathists, the Sunni-dominated political party that Saddam once led.
Mohammed Jarboua, an Algerian who claims to head the channel, said in a telephone interview from Syria that it was only temporarily halted.
“We’re opting for a more advanced technology and we asked for the broadcast to be cut in the meantime for four days,” Jarboua said today. He said the new technology will improve the channel’s viewing quality.
{{/usCountry}}“We’re opting for a more advanced technology and we asked for the broadcast to be cut in the meantime for four days,” Jarboua said today. He said the new technology will improve the channel’s viewing quality.
{{/usCountry}}Jarboua has denied that the channel is a Baath Party tool, but has gone to great lengths to hide the location of its studios and its funding sources.