Upcoming License Withdrawal: How Sky News Arabia Whitewashed Emirati Crimes

The British satellite broadcaster Sky has withdrawn its license to Sky News Arabia and will end their partnership next year following accusations that the Emirati channel promotes propaganda and whitewashes the abuses of the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) militia.

This comes amid reports of the channel denying internationally documented massacres in Darfur, and amid Western accusations that the UAE supports the militia.

This move comes at a time of increasing scrutiny in the UK regarding media organizations' relationships with foreign investments, particularly those linked to Gulf states.

Controversial Coverage

Sky has decided to end its partnership with Abu Dhabi-based Sky News Arabia, following accusations of editorial bias and its coverage of the conflict in Sudan, according to The Telegraph.

The newspaper reported that the broadcaster, owned by US media giant Comcast, officially informed the Emirati company Image Media Investments (IMI) of its intention to withdraw its license to use its brand by next year, after completing the necessary legal procedures.

This sudden move comes amid growing criticism of the Arabic-language channel, which is accused of promoting propaganda that serves political interests and whitewashes abuses attributed to the RSF in Sudan, which faces international accusations of committing atrocities in the Darfur region.

Sky News Arabia sparked widespread international controversy last year due to its coverage of the RSF's takeover of El Fasher, the capital of North Darfur.

Satellite images documented a massacre of thousands of civilians, with the death toll so high that pools of blood and bodies were visible from space.

In February, a UN fact-finding mission concluded that genocide was the only plausible conclusion based on the pattern of rape, murder, and ethnic cleansing.

In an attempt to deny the on-the-ground evidence, Sky News Arabia broadcast reports questioning the authenticity of the satellite images that revealed piles of bodies and mass graves, claiming they were merely images of livestock at a water source.

It also broadcast an interview with a doctor in El Fasher who claimed he hadn't seen any bodies, despite hundreds of deaths in his immediate vicinity. This reinforced accusations of whitewashing leveled against the Dubai-based media outlet.

Sky News Arabia sent its correspondent, Tsabih Mubarak, to the scene of the events. She is married to Ibrahim El-Mirghani, a senior official in the parallel government affiliated with the RSF militia.

Tsabih appeared in a video embracing an RSF commander who had called on fighters to rape Darfuri women, telling her, “We are with you.”

She then presented reports claiming there was no evidence of the atrocities documented by satellite imagery or media reports based on testimonies from those who managed to escape.

This was refuted by Nathaniel Raymond, director of the research lab at Yale University, who described the channel's justifications as absurd and inaccurate, asserting that they possessed intelligence documenting summary executions and recent mass graves.

Sudan’s ambassador to London, Babiker Al-Amin, stated that the channel was covering up genocide and portraying the perpetrators as humanitarians.

Meanwhile, journalists at Sky News Arabia described the Arabic version’s work as blatant propaganda, noting that the editorial standards committee no longer had any real power in the face of the influence of the Emirati owners.

In response, a Sky News Arabia spokesperson categorically denied these accusations, calling them disgusting and baseless, and emphasizing that the channel adheres to impartiality and covers violations by both sides, including Sudanese military airstrikes.

Nevertheless, Sky’s decision to sever ties appears to be a tacit admission of the partnership’s failure to maintain professional integrity, especially after the Sudanese government officially banned the channel from operating within its borders, and given the UAE’s poor record on press freedom (ranked 164th globally).

Emirati Platform

The UAE faces widespread accusations of supporting the RSF militia in the Sudanese civil war, as part of its efforts to gain access to the country's ports, gold reserves, and agricultural lands.

Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed al-Nahyan, owner of Manchester City Football Club and financier of IMI, is alleged to have played a key role in controlling the UAE's activities in Sudan.

In recent years it has sought to build a major media conglomerate, pursuing a broad expansion into English-language and Western media.

Besides Sky News Arabia, its portfolio includes The National, CNN Business Arabic, Al-Ain News and a minority stake in Euronews.

In 2024, Abu Dhabi, through former Conservative minister Nadhim Zahawi, attacked London, accusing it of standing idly by while Sudanese officials smeared its reputation at the United Nations.

Separately, in 2023, IMI attempted to acquire The Telegraph in partnership with Redbird Capital Partners, an American private equity firm, but the deal fell through after widespread objections due to concerns about press freedom.

Following lengthy negotiations, the two parties agreed to sell the newspaper to the German publisher Axel Springer.

Sky's decision to sever ties with IMI will end their 50/50 partnership.

In 2010, Sky News struck a deal with IMI, part of Manchester City owner Sheikh Mansour's business conglomerate, to launch the 24-hour Arabic-language news channel under the Sky News brand. Sky News Arabia was subsequently launched in 2012.

At the time, Sky was controlled by News Corp. and Rupert Murdoch, who was seeking lucrative alliances with the UAE and had planned to license his entertainment brands to the 20th Century Fox World theme park project in Dubai.

However, this project was canceled in 2018 before construction began.

Since 2018, Sky has been owned by the US cable giant Comcast.

Its withdrawal from the partnership with the UAE comes after it also terminated the license that News Corp. had granted to use the Sky News brand in Australia.

Sky News Arabia was originally launched with the aim of providing the highest international standards in Middle Eastern coverage.

But former Sky executives based in the UK told The Telegraph in November that the channel had become a platform promoting the UAE's rulers.

One source said that the editorial board, established to oversee coverage, “has no real power,” given that the channel is owned by the UAE’s Vice President, Sheikh Mansour.

This development comes amid a broader debate in Britain about foreign influence in the media, particularly following the controversy surrounding previous Abu Dhabi-backed attempts to invest in British media outlets.

If the decision is implemented, the Arabic channel will lose the right to use the Sky News name, potentially forcing it to rebrand or restructure its operations.

Blatant Promotion

The UAE has been accused of involvement in the almost three-year-long war in Sudan.

The UAE has been accused of providing weapons to the RSF, as well as sending foreign mercenaries to fight on behalf of the paramilitaries.

Last year, Khartoum initiated a legal case against the Gulf country at the International Court of Justice (ICJ), accusing it of violating the Genocide Convention due to its alleged fuelling of the conflict.

Amid accusations of Emirati involvement in the war, activists have called for a boycott of the country, advising against travel and holidays there, as well as buying products.

The UAE has continuously denied supporting the RSF or being involved in the conflict.

Last year, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio insisted some countries, and we know who they are, must stop sending weapons to the RSF, but he refused to single out the UAE.

Sky News Arabia is also blatantly promoting and legitimizing the Southern Transitional Council (STC), a paramilitary force accused of destabilizing Yemen.

The STC, which seized control of large parts of southern Yemen ahead of a planned referendum on independence from the north, faces accusations of human rights abuses.

The UAE-funded Sky News also adopts a systematic approach to incitement against the Palestinian resistance and the dissemination of lies about its leaders are part of a broader effort to influence the Palestinian landscape.

This behavior by Sky News is an extension of the actions of several UAE-funded media outlets, which have become tools for promoting falsehoods about the Palestinian resistance.

Specialized studies have shown that media outlets funded by external entities, particularly the UAE, play a direct role in attempting to prepare Arab and international public opinion to accept Israeli actions and undermine the Palestinian resistance.

For his part, political activist Ahmad Zidan explained to Al-Estiklal that “relations between the UAE and the West are facing a sensitive test following reports of Emirati support for a Sudanese militia accused of committing atrocities.”

“The relationship between some Emirati leaders and RDF commanders dates back years, including frequent meetings between Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed and Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, known as Hemedti, before the outbreak of war,” he said.

“Despite the growing condemnation and some boycotts, Washington and London are not expected to take any real punitive measures, as the UAE has become a cornerstone of the global investment system, in addition to its geopolitical weight,” he added.