Al Jazeera Arabic's Twitter account temporarily suspended

The account, which has nearly 12 million followers, was deactivated by Twitter without reason.

Twitter is partly owned by Saudi prince al-Waleed Bin Talal bin Abdulaziz al Saud, who has more than double the shares of co-founder Jack Dorsey.

The New Arab has contacted Twitter for comment, but did not receive a reply by the time of publication.

Yasser Abuhilalah, managing director of Al Jazeera Arabic, confirmed the suspension on social media.

The suspension comes at a time of diplomatic crisis in the Gulf after Qatar was cut off by neighbouring countries including Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.

"The main Al Jazeera Twitter account has been suspended, and work is ongoing to solve the problem," Abuhilalah tweeted.

"Other secondary accounts remain active. Disruption (by others) will not stop because the truth terrifies them. We’ll be back."

In another tweet, he said that no other "channel in the world... faces the same amount of conspiracy".

Other Twitter accounts belonging to the channel were still working and one claimed that the suspension was due to "what seems to be an organised campaign".