French court rules against Qatari beIN Sports

By DG Staff

RIYADH 17 June 2019: The Arab Satellite Communications Organisation (Arabsat), welcomed on Thursday a ruling issued by the President of Tribunal de Grande Instance de Paris on the false allegations made by Qatar’s beIN Sports and its France-based branch.

In a statement carried by Wam, Arabsat said: “Arabsat greatly values and respects the integrity of the French judiciary, which has skillfully and professionally addressed the allegations of Qatar’s Al Jazeera subsidiary, beIN Sports. The judiciary’s ruling rejected all allegations made by beIN against Arabsat, confirming Arabsat’s valid position regarding all the accusations and defamation attempts led by Qatar’s media group, which sought to link our organization to the dubious beoutQ piracy.

The French judiciary’s ruling, rejecting beIN’s lawsuit and allegations against Arabsat, has proven beyond a shadow of a doubt our organization’s valid position from day one, despite beIN SPORTS’ attempts to cast doubt on that position; its media smear campaign; and its relentless attempts to push bogus and misleading claims.”

“The French courts’ conviction of beIN and its ruling that it pays unprecedented fines, as well as paying the prosecution costs represents justice and refutes all false accusations that Qatar’s beIN SPORTS group tried to pin on Arabsat to cover its technical failure to address media piracy. Arabsat hopes that the international federations will not drift behind defamation attempts and misleading campaigns led by the beIN organization, whose reputation has been tarnished by criminal investigations in France and Switzerland on charges of corruption and bribery,” it added.

Arabsat stated that by constantly lying and distorting facts, beIN has leaked false information regarding the French court’s ruling, proving its dishonesty and lack of credibility.

“While welcoming the ruling in favor of Arabsat, we reserve the right to take legal action against beIN, its executives, and all parties involved in spreading false news regarding the Arabsat ruling,” the statement concluded.