BBC excludes Maryam, promotes Tehran propaganda
While the BBC continues to spend licence-payers money on promoting religion, the least we have a right to expect is that it will do so in a reasonably balanced manner, giving a fair crack of the whip to civilised values and secular opinions. It is utterly outrageous (but not entirely surprising) that on the ‘Sunday Live’ religious show this morning, Maryam Namezie was excluded from a discussion of the Iranian regime’s treatment Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani. Sakineh is the woman who the regime wanted to stone to death for alleged adultery, and who still faces execution (even if not by stoning) on the same charge, plus a new and obviously trumped-up charge of murdering her husband. She has also been subjected to 99 lashes in prison for “spreading corruption and indecency” after a picture supposedly of her unveiled appeared in The (London) Times (in fact the photo wasn’t of Sakineh).
Maryam Namazie, as a leading figure in the Council of Ex-Muslims of Britain and the Worker-Communist Party of Iran, would have had some trenchant comments to make on this matter, but was not given the opportunity. Despite being invited to speak in the live debate, she was not called. Suhaib Hussan of the Islamic Sharia Council, on the other hand, was given ample opportunity to defend stoning and someone from Tehran was given time to spout the regime’s line that Sakineh is guilty of murder.
To make matters worse, the BBC presenter Susanna Reid regurgitated the regime’s claim that no-one has been stoned since the 2002 “moratorium” on this punishment, as though this was an established fact: in reality there have 17 recorded cases of stonings in Iran since then.
You can view this travesty for yourself, here.
Then protest to:
Sunday Morning Live
Blackstaff,39-43 Bedford Street, Belfast, BT2 7EE
T: 028 9033 8379 M: 07875001606
anna.phipps@bbc.co.uk
lindsey.hammond@bbc.co.uk
To support Sakineh, click here.
Oscar Lomax said,
September 5, 2010 at 10:54 pm
That was an interesting test. You delete a comment pointing out that you are being spammed, and you leave the spam – all in the interest of ‘freedom of speech’ natch.
Cretins. Utter cretins.
Ophelia Benson said,
September 6, 2010 at 12:06 am
You can watch it only if you’re in the UK, alas. I’m not.
Good post.
Davey said,
September 6, 2010 at 3:18 am
What about the ‘interview’ towards the end of the programme with Professor Morandi of Tehran University? He is clearly cut off as soon as he suggests western propaganda and sensationalism of this issue. Whilst I personally condemn the actions of the Irainan government (as far as it has been reported by the western media), I believe that he should have been able to speak his opinion before the beeb rushed the coverage over to a trivial opinions poll on sport! I hate to try and interpret this as some kind of consipracy, but it is really rather striking the way that the interview is diverted as soon as Morandi suggests this incident could have been distorted by western media coverage.
Allen Esterson said,
September 6, 2010 at 8:30 am
Davey: The notion that Morandi was cut off as soon as he suggested “western propaganda and sensationalism of this issue” doesn’t bear examination. First, he had already made his point clear. Second, the presenter had earlier stated that the opinions of viewers on the effects of money on sport would be given at the end of the programme. The interview with Morandi was cut off because there was only a couple of minutes left and the views of listeners on an earlier topic still had to be provided as promised. (I imagine this is a regular feature of the programme.) So the notion that Morandi’s apologetics for the Iranian regime were being censored is ridiculous.
Allen Esterson said,
September 6, 2010 at 9:31 pm
By the way, the heading saying that the BBC promotes Tehran propaganda gives a highly misleading impression of the 15 minutes of the programme devoted to the issue. It started with a clip of an exiled Iranian woman activist condemning the regime, and showing horrific footage of a woman being stoned. The three studio guests all condemned stoning as a punishment, though one brought up the obnoxious “cultural imperialism” argument – the West is telling other cultures how they should conduct their affairs. In the latter stages a British Sharia Law cleric explained how stoning fitted into authentic Sharia Law (most viewers would have been utterly repelled by his “explanation”!), and an academic from Tehran University gave the “official” view.
That’s not to say that the programme should not be criticised, especially for failing to call on Maryam Namazie, but taken overall, it is simply not the case that the BBC was “promoting” Tehran propaganda.
Oscar Lomax said,
September 6, 2010 at 11:15 pm
if this site was a biological entity it would now be sectioned under the mental health act.
Just saying like.
Ophelia Benson said,
September 6, 2010 at 11:23 pm
I’ve now seen it, thanks to the video posted at the Dawkins site. Allen’s right; the anti-stoning view did get a hearing. It’s still interesting that the BBC view, apparently, is that it’s all a bit worrying, all this criticism of Iran – or as the presenter said, “demonization of Iran.” Not Iran, of course: the regime. There’s a difference, to put it mildly. The regime is horrendous, and deserves to be “demonized.”
Allen Esterson said,
September 7, 2010 at 5:10 am
I couldn’t agree more with Ophelia’s view of Sunday Live’s Susanna Reid’s cow-towing to the view in certain quarters that Iran (and Islam/Muslims) are being “demonized”. One of the three guests, Aric Sigmund, managed to balance deploring of the stoning of women with the claim that this was being used to demonize Iran (whose people, he told us, he knew by direct experience were very hospitable and kind to children). As Ophelia says, this is a regime that deserves to be demonized.
maxdunbar said,
September 7, 2010 at 5:48 am
Yeah, it is always ‘demonised’. As Nightjack said, that’s what we do to demons.
jim denham said,
September 7, 2010 at 10:33 am
Talking of Tehran propaganda, I see that Lauren Booth has done a ‘Ridley’:
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/141355.html
skidmarx said,
September 9, 2010 at 10:15 am
What attacked Tony Blair?:
“Well here again Tony, you’ve been fed and have consumed in its entirety, a massive lie. The lie that says when Muslims express an opinion in groups, in public, it is always spurred on by hatred of ‘us’ infidels.”
“Today when the streets of London reverberate with cries of ‘Allahuakbar! [God is the Greatest]‘ and ‘Down Down Israel.’ Christians and Jews will join the thunderous cries of ‘Down Down Israel,’ marching shoulder to shoulder with the ‘political’ Muslims you say you fear so much,” she said.
“It’s kind of like the way you express solidarity with America only without illegal chemical weapons and a million civilian deaths.”
Presumably when it comes to Ridleys you’re more a fan of Matt or Nick. At least they weren’t clerical fascists.
AZ said,
September 15, 2010 at 11:30 pm
MARYAM NAMAZIE is a zionist stooge and a liar. She is spokesperson of EX-MUSLIM, a reactionary and far right hate group who is supported and funded by the intelligent agency of the West and Mossad to spread hate against Muslim. Only fools pay attention to the political whore of zionism like Maryam Namazie and his associate the war mongers HARRY’S PLACE who are associated with the war monger Jewish neocons.
http://www.indymedia.ie/article/87149
Harry’s Place is a British blog founded in November 2002 by ‘Harry Hatchet’ to support the invasion of Iraq that was then in the offing. Harry’s Place has a strong pro-Israel orientation and its bloggers were later among the founders of the Euston Manifesto network, a key centre of the ‘pro war left’.[4] Its activities include mainly attacks on critics of Israel, with a special focus on the left and mainstream Muslims organizations.
‘Democracy Promotion’ in Iran
On 5 August 2009 David Toube posted photos and videos of himself wearing a T-Shirt which reads ‘I’m blogging for Iranian democracy’ with a link to Harry’s Place underneath.] The website has been aggressively promoting Iran Solidarity, a new organization set up by Maryam Namazie of the Council of ex-Muslims of Britain, with support from an assortment of New Atheist luminaries, neocons, and some British and international liberal voices.
Relying exclusively on Israel lobby’s regime-change brigade (Kenneth Pollack, Patrick Clawson, Michael Rubin), Michael Ezra of HP tried to cast doubt on the legacy of Mohammad Mossadegh — the popular Iranian prime minister overthrown in the 1953 CIA coup — questioning his democratic credentials and the causal links between the coup and the Islamic revolution of 1979.
http://www.powerbase.info/index.php?title=Harry’s_Place
AZ said,
September 15, 2010 at 11:32 pm
{Sakineh is the woman who the regime wanted to stone to death for alleged adultery, and who still faces execution ..}
You the liar. Sakineh was on trial for murdering her husband with a pillow with the help of her lover idiot.