{"id":8825,"date":"2018-10-03T11:12:27","date_gmt":"2018-10-03T07:42:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.nejatngo.org\/en\/?p=8825"},"modified":"2021-01-21T19:26:29","modified_gmt":"2021-01-21T15:56:29","slug":"ofcom-investigates-tv-network-over-interview-praising-attack-in-iran","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.nejatngo.org\/en\/posts\/8825","title":{"rendered":"Ofcom investigates TV network over interview praising attack in Iran"},"content":{"rendered":"

Saudi-linked Iran International TV gave airtime to supporter of assault that killed 24 at parade<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n

Ofcom is investigating a UK-based Saudi-linked television network after it gave airtime to the spokesman for an extremist separatist group who praised last month\u2019s terrorist attack in the Iranian city of Ahvaz, which killed at least 24 people, including children.<\/p>\n

The investigation by the media watchdog highlights the growing influence of Saudi-linked stations operating from London, which is increasingly becoming a key media battle ground for the proxy wars in the Middle East.<\/p>\n

Iran International TV, based in Chiswick, west London, was the first Farsi language media organisation to interview Yacoub Hor al-Tostari, a spokesman for the Arab Struggle Movement for the Liberation of<\/p>\n

Tostari said the National Resistance of Ahvaz, an umbrella group linked to the Struggle Movement, had carried out the attack, and praised the killings, later condemned by the UN security council as a \u201cheinous and cowardly terrorist attack\u201d, which he said had hit \u201clegitimate\u201d military targets.<\/p>\n

\u201cToday\u2019s operation was carried out by the National Resistance of Ahvaz against legitimate targets, which are Revolutionary Guards, and military members of the Islamic Republic,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Told that civilians were among the dead, he said: \u201cWhat was targeted was the viewing platform [of the military parade] where officials stood. Ordinary people were not on that platform.\u201d He added: \u201cI insist that armed resistance is part of our resistance.\u201d<\/p>\n

Tostari\u2019s group later backpedalled on the claim. The Ahvaz attack has also been claimed by Isis.<\/p>\n

Ofcom confirmed it was investigating the interview. \u201cWe are assessing this news programme as a priority against our broadcasting rules,\u201d a spokesperson said. It has not opened a formal investigation.<\/p>\n

Iran\u2019s ambassador to the UK, Hamid Baeidinejad, tweeted that the embassy had filed a complaint.<\/p>\n

Iran International is one of an increasing number of London-based television stations backed by Middle Eastern interests that are trying to influence audiences thousands of miles away. Questions have been raised over the network\u2019s funding and its links to Saudi Arabia, Tehran\u2019s arch-enemy. Many Iranians compared the interview to giving airtime to Isis after a terrorist attack in the west.<\/p>\n

Rob Beynon, the acting head of the channel, stood by the decision to broadcast the interview and said it had referred to the Ahvaz shooting as a \u201cterrorist attack\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe and the BBC [Persian] and Radio Farda interviewed the same person during that day and we\u2019ve already said that it was done because we wanted to find out the background to it,\u201d he told the Guardian. \u201cThere isn\u2019t a ban on interviewing that person as far as I am aware.\u201d<\/p>\n

He said his network would comply with Ofcom but said he did not think the interview with Tostari had broken the rules since he said the spokesman did not incite violence.<\/p>\n

\u201c[Tostari] explained his reasons as he saw them and he was challenged by the presenter,\u201d he said. \u201cIt doesn\u2019t mean that we agree with him.\u201d<\/p>\n

Iran International was launched in May 2017 shortly before presidential elections in Iran. Two other Farsi-language networks, BBC Persian and Manoto TV, are also based in London. Iran International pays generous salaries \u2013 one employee said pay was double that offered by competitors \u2013 and its 100-strong staff works out of a modern newsroom and studio.<\/p>\n

Iran International\u2019s licence is held by its parent entity, a company called Global Media Circulating, according to Ofcom\u2019s records. Adel Al-Abdulkarim, one of the company\u2019s two directors, is also a shareholder, and a Saudi national with a history of working with Saudi Arabian media moguls such as Abdulrahman al-Rashed, the former general manager of the Saudi-owned Al Arabiya, and formerly editor-in-chief of newspaper Alsharq Alwsat.<\/p>\n

A source who has worked with the Saudi crown prince, Mohammed bin Salman, said Iran International\u2019s money came from the Saudi royal court, estimated to be about $250m (\u00a3192m).<\/p>\n

\u201cThe money is coming from Saudi Arabia, it is from the royal court,\u201d the source said, questioning whether private investors would risk that amount of money with such a small chance of return.<\/p>\n

Beynon did not answer questions on the channel\u2019s funding. He said the day-to-day editorial and technical operations of Iran International were managed by DMA Media Ltd, which is a UK news company owned by private UK shareholders. The Guardian has asked Beynon to explain the precise relationship between DMA Media Ltd and Global Media Circulating.<\/p>\n

He added: \u201cIran International can be judged by its output and the editorial policy implicit in that. It is not reflective of the views of any government and aims to provide news and views of interest to all Farsi speakers.\u201d<\/p>\n

This is not the first time Iran International has been heavily criticised. The television previously gave extensive live coverage to a rally by the Mujahedin-e-Khalq (MeK), a cult-like organisation that espouses regime change and has links to Saudi Arabia.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The controversy over the coverage of the MeK rally led to the channel ceasing its cooperation with Mehdi Jami, a respected journalist who spoke out on internal discontent over the decision. At least one journalist left the network after the coverage of the Ahvaz attack.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Shia-majority Iran and Sunni monarchy Saudi Arabia are engaged in proxy conflicts across the Middle East, including in Syria and Yemen. Iran has its own Arabic-language television, Al Alam, which broadcast its own version of events.<\/p>\n

It is irked by London becoming a hub for exiled channels it views as subversive. Manoto TV is perceived to be close to monarchists, focusing extensively on pre-revolutionary Iran and depicting the era as glamorous. It lost \u00a333m in 2016 and 2017, according to its latest accounts. Manoto has not disclosed its sources of funding since 2012 and did not respond to a request to explain these.<\/p>\n

In 2012, Iran\u2019s English-language state-run Press TV was forced off air in the UK after Ofcom revoked its licence for broadcasting forced confessions of a journalist imprisoned in Iran.<\/p>\n

The author of this article has previously appeared on media review shows on Iran International TV as a guest, for which he received usual guest fees<\/em><\/p>\n

Saeed Kamali Dehghan\u00a0 , The Guardian<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The controversy over the coverage of the MeK rally led to the channel ceasing its cooperation with Mehdi Jami, a respected journalist who spoke out on internal discontent over the decision. At least one journalist left the network after the coverage of the Ahvaz attack.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":8828,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[47],"tags":[85,20],"module":[81],"ctype":[17],"blog":[174],"class_list":["post-8825","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-mujahedin-khalq-proxy-force","tag-mujahedin-khalq-terrorism","tag-third-view-mek","module-article","ctype-story","blog-guardian"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nejatngo.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8825","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nejatngo.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nejatngo.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nejatngo.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nejatngo.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8825"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.nejatngo.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8825\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nejatngo.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/8828"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nejatngo.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8825"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nejatngo.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8825"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nejatngo.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8825"},{"taxonomy":"module","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nejatngo.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/module?post=8825"},{"taxonomy":"ctype","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nejatngo.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/ctype?post=8825"},{"taxonomy":"blog","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nejatngo.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/blog?post=8825"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}