Sky News Arabia said on Wednesday, 16 September 2026, that the Algerian authorities had withdrawn its bureau’s accreditation in Algeria, six days after Algeria decided to sever diplomatic ties with the United Arab Emirates.
Accreditation withdrawn from Sky News bureau in Algeria
The channel issued only a brief statement on its official Facebook page, saying that the Algerian authorities had withdrawn its bureau’s accreditation in the country. The channel is based in Abu Dhabi, and its bureau covered Algerian affairs for its newscasts and programmes. Algeria announced on 10 September that it was severing diplomatic ties with the UAE.
The Algerian Foreign Ministry said the decision was taken after “all avenues for preserving bilateral relations had been exhausted”, and held the Emirati side responsible for practices it described as “provocative or hostile” towards Algeria. The Algerian authorities informed the Emirati ambassador of the decision and gave him 48 hours to leave the country.
Air measures and the Amazigh interview crisis
During the interview, Belghith described Amazigh identity as a “French Zionist ideological project” and said that Berbers were “ancient Arabs”, drawing criticism from Algerian political, cultural and media circles. After a clip from the interview circulated, the Public Prosecutor’s Office in Algeria announced that it had opened a preliminary investigation and detained Belghith.
In its statement, the prosecution said his remarks constituted “an attack on a fundamental component of national identity” and a “blatant assault on national unity and the symbols and foundations of the nation”. The authorities prosecuted Belghith for the felony of committing an act targeting national unity, as well as the misdemeanours of undermining the integrity of national unity and disseminating hate speech and discrimination using information and communications technologies. He was convicted and imprisoned before later being released under a presidential pardon.
The case was followed by coverage broadcast on Algerian television that attacked the UAE and accused it of targeting the identity and core principles of the Algerian people, making the interview one of the episodes of tension that preceded the severing of diplomatic relations between Algeria and Abu Dhabi.
