By Mohammad Ghazal

AMMAN - The Audiovisual Commission has filed a lawsuit against Radio Al Balad, formerly Ammannet, for reading an insult to the Lower House on air.

“We filed a lawsuit against Radio Al Balad almost two weeks ago, after a presenter working at the station read a comment insulting the Lower House on air. This is a stark violation of the law and it is unacceptable,” Commission Director General Husain Bani Hani told The Jordan Times on Wednesday.

Sawsan Zaidah, radio manager, earlier told The Jordan Times that a comment deemed “insulting” by the Lower House was discovered on the station’s website in a comment posted on an article published January 29.

Yesterday, Zaidah said the station is searching their archives to check if the comment was read on air.

“We have a unit recording everything aired in the Kingdom around-the-clock. The insult was indeed read on the air and we have the recording,” Bani Hani stressed.

On Tuesday, Lower House Secretary General Fayez Shawabkeh said the House has also filed a lawsuit against Radio Al Balad and banned it from broadcasting its sessions for allegedly insulting the Chamber of Deputies.

Zaidah said the station has not received any notification, and neither has it been informed by the court that a lawsuit was filed against it.

She also said the station decided to stop the broadcast of a programme for reading listeners’ comments on air, which used to be aired daily.