Dominica’s PM accuses Al Jazeera of being agent of opposition

Prime Minister of Dominica, Roosevelt Skerrit has accused international news network Al Jazeera of being an agent of the opposition United Workers Party (UWP) in that country.

Al Jazeera is releasing an investigative documentary on what it says is the sale of diplomatic passport in the Caribbean on Monday afternoon.

It is unsure if Dominica is the focus of the report but a trailer released by the news agency showed clips of a former Dominican diplomat from Iran called Alireza Zibahalat Monfared, who was accused of helping to embezzle billions of dollars while Iran evaded international oil sanctions.

Monfared is now in prison in Iran after he was arrested in an international manhunt.

His status as a Dominican diplomat has been stripped and his diplomatic passport has been taken away from him.

Speaking to supporters at a rally on the weekend, Skerrit said leader of the UWP, Lennox Linton, is desperate as general election, slated for December 6, draws near and is using foreign agents to help make lies about Dominica legitimate.

He said Al Jazeera is now one of them.

“Linton is desperate,” he stated. “And this desperation means that he and his agents and supporters will do all in their power to legitimize their lies by using foreign agents and organizations and Al Jazeera is now one of them.”

He said all of this is part of an attempt “to destabilize Dominica.”

Skerrit noted that the allegations in the documentary have been sent to him and he has noticed that they have been used before by Linton and his supporters for several years.

“It was clear to me, as it will be to you that either Linton, the UWP directly or their foreign collaborators provided this baseless information to Al Jazeera for political reasons,” he said.

Skerrit also threatened legal action in the matter.

“People who libel me will find themselves before the courts,” he stated.

Al Jazeera is based in Doha, Qatar and has 80 bureaus around the world.