Qatar rejects Gaddafi's criticism of Al Jazeera

Doha: Doha has sharply rejected Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi's criticism of Qatar and Qatar-based Al Jazeera news channel.

On Tuesday, an enraged Gaddafi named Al Jazeera in his speech as one of the channels that were ‘turning and twisting facts' about what was going on in his country.

However, Shaikh Hamad bin Jasem Bin Jabor Al Thani, Qatar's Prime Minister and Foreign Minister, said that the media in his country was free.

"We have a free press and we pursue a policy of non-interference in the media," he told reporters in Doha on Wednesday. "Qatar is extremely pained by what is going on in Libya. We are with its people who are suffering. Qatar's stand is clear and it should not be taken as interfering in its internal affairs," he said, quoted by Qatari daily The Peninsula.

Shaikh Hamad said that Qatar was monitoring the events in Libya with deep concern and hoped that the standoff will soon end. "Libya is an important country and is of concern to everybody. We do not seek to isolate it," he said.

"Qatar has not committed any crime by standing with the Libyan people, supporting them and rejecting violence by the Libyan government," he said.