Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani, the former Emir of Qatar and founder of the Al Jazeera network, has passed away. His media project revolutionized the Arab world.

The author recalls the day BBC Arabic closed, when a Qatari team offered him a job at a new channel promising free news and talk shows.

On November 1, 1996, Al Jazeera launched. Sheikh Hamad never interfered in editorial content, only offering broad guidance and encouragement.

The channel quickly gained global attention by covering suffering in Palestine, Iraq, and Afghanistan. It later expanded with Al Jazeera English.

Success brought backlash: offices were closed, journalists arrested and killed. But Sheikh Hamad stood firm, asking critics: “When will you stop treating free speech as an enemy?”

He shielded the network, telling staff: “Your only red lines are the rules of the profession. Nothing else.”

Source: www.aljazeera.com