Former deputy prime minister Anwar Ibrahim's 90-minute interview with the Arabic news channel Al-Jazeera was allegedly 'blacked out' by local satellite television provider Astro on Wednesday night.

Al-Jazeera's Southeast Asia correspondent Sohaib Jasim said he received complaints that the interview on the channel's Bila Hudud (Without Border) programme was not shown in Malaysia.

"Yes, I was told it was not aired on Wednesday night. But it is only Malaysia because I managed to watch it in Jakarta without problems," he told malaysiakini .

He said this is not the first time that Astro has chosen not to air Al-Jazeera's interview with Anwar.

According to Sohaib, his interview with the ex-deputy premier on Sept 6 was also canned by Astro.

"I had interviewed Anwar earlier but that too was not shown by Astro. I don't know who is doing this and why," he said.

However, he added that those interested to listen to the interview can catch it on Al-Jazeera's website .

Second time

In September, Astro had also denied subscribers the re-runs of Anwar's interview with CNN's Lorraine Hahn in her Talk Asia programme.

Since Astro has yet to make any official response to the enquiries regarding the matter, the re-runs issue remains a mystery .

Contacted later, a spokesperson from Astro's Al-Jazeera's department said the programme could not have been aired as the feed from the Arabic news channel ends at 10pm daily.

"Our operation on Astro 7am-10am, 12pm-2pm, 5pm-7pm and 9pm-10pm. So if the Bila Hudud programme comes within those four slots then it should be alright. We had no problems with the interview with (ex-premier) Dr Mahathir Mohamad," he said.

He said if all went well, the last re-run of the Anwar interview should have been aired this morning at 7.30am but could not ascertain if it was aired.

However, Anwar's eldest daughter Nurul Izzah said her friends and relatives had complained that the re-runs was not shown.

"They waited for the re-run at 7.30am but there was none," she added when contacted.

Anwar disappointed

Meanwhile, Anwar's aide and lawyer Sankara Nair said the former deputy premier expressed his regret that Astro had blocked the latest interview which was shown throughout the world.

According to him, Anwar aid the decision showed the sorry state of press freedom in this country.

In a related development, Sankara said Anwar was granted an audience with the Emir of Qatar yesterday at his palace in Doha.

"In the discussion, the Emir had encouraged Anwar to continue the dialogue between Islam and the West," he added.