The Islamic regime of Iran’s English language Press TV has had its UK licence revoked by media regulator, Ofcom. It will be removed from Sky on 20 January. Celebrate good times, come on…
Ofcom finally acknowledged that Tehran has editorial oversight on Press TV. No shit.
Of course Press TV has called the decision ‘a clear example of censorship’ but it’s not. As I have said before Press TV is an arm of the regime’s intelligence service – it’s not press in any way shape or form. The press is banned in Iran unless it is run and approved by the state and even then many outlets are banned for transgressing rules.
The evidence against Press TV is damning. In one case, they filmed a Newsweek journalist imprisoned in Tehran’s Evin prison reading a forced ‘confession’ and knew it was forced. Bahari, who was freed after 118 days, was arrested while covering the 2009 protests in Iran and was told he would be executed if he did not confess.
Also Press TV ‘interviewed’ Iran stoning case Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani on a number of occassions and a ‘reporter’ was even heard ordering her to confess under duress. They also did a ‘documentary’ on Sakineh’s case where she and her son were kept in their home for three days in order to re-enact the supposed ‘murder’ of Sakineh’s husband with her son acting as his father. The two had been promised to be released if they agreed to do the incriminating documentary. by the way, in the same documentary, they accused Mina Ahadi (coordinator of the save Sakineh campaign) of charges that would be punishable with execution in Iran.
Another well-known example is their ‘documentary’ on the killing of Neda Agha-Soltan at a protest in Tehran. They first said she was alive, even doing a phone interview with someone claiming to be Neda, and then blamed her death on the doctor who tried to save her and the BBC amongst others.
Here’s a clip where Lauren Booth defends working at Press TV whilst I challenge her. Well now she, George Galloway and their ilk will have to find some respectable work, but I wouldn’t hold my breath.
(Via Terry Sanderson)
28 comments
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Martyn N Hughes
January 21, 2012 at 1:59 pm (UTC 1) Link to this comment
According to one Yahoo report, George Galloway says: ‘Press TV a “voice for the voiceless … This is a blow for Press TV … but it is more of a blow to the British government’s hypocritical stance of being in favour of freedom of expression.”
http://uk.news.yahoo.com/britain-pulls-plug-irans-press-tv-
The idea of Mr Galloway finding some respectable work – now or in the future – would be highly suspect.
The man has clearly sold out many people for cash and for his own advancement. He is despicable to say the least.
jams o donnell (Shaun Downey)
January 21, 2012 at 2:20 pm (UTC 1) Link to this comment
Good riddance to bad rubbish
Rafiq Mahmood
January 21, 2012 at 4:15 pm (UTC 1) Link to this comment
Excellent news.
PersianPower88
January 21, 2012 at 5:42 pm (UTC 1) Link to this comment
I despise PressTV. Listen PressTV, we do NOT care about the Palestinian DOGS. We HATE ALL Arabs. I hate how the Islamic Republic wants Iranians to die for the interests of some filthy raghead uncivilized barbarian Arabs. I fucking hate Arabs so much I can’t describe it in words.
I don’t even view Arabs as humans.
Sassan
January 21, 2012 at 6:47 pm (UTC 1) Link to this comment
@PersianPower88: I think it is dangerous to dehumanize any group of people based solely on race. You don’t even discriminate between Christian Arabs and Muslim Arabs. I think we can both agree on your general sentiment: we despise Islamicist Arabs. Believe it or not, there are Arabs who are even atheist. It is better to despise the Islamicist ideology by having such strong hatred. It clouds one’s judgement.
Sassan
January 21, 2012 at 6:48 pm (UTC 1) Link to this comment
*It is better to despise the Islamicist ideology than having such strong hatred
Mriana
January 21, 2012 at 8:04 pm (UTC 1) Link to this comment
I agree Sassan. It is one thing to despise religion, but another to despise a group of people. Just because they are Arabs, does not automatically make them Islamic, although many are forced from birth to claim Islam, but that fact alone does not make them Islamic. It is possible some are giving Islam lip-service just to keep from being killed. Some people might not have the money to get out of the country and/or know how to go about becoming a citizen of another country. Some may even fear that moving is not enough to keep their life safe due to how many have gotten out and denounced Islam, only to still end up with a death threat over their heads. This sort of abusive ideology can cause individuals great psychological trauma, which includes fear. Fear, guilt, and shame are the biggest tools religion uses to keep people under control.
PersianPower88
January 21, 2012 at 10:15 pm (UTC 1) Link to this comment
I despise all Arabs regardless of their gender, age, or religious beliefs. I am a right-wing Iranian nationalist. We Iranians are mostly secular/non-religious, we have endured 32 years of Arab rule and will seek to the final extermination of this Satanic race of demons once the IRI is overturned.
You are nothing more than an idiotic Western Atheist whose only knowledge of Arabs comes from orientalist imagery and movies.
Please shut your filthy mouth and never speak to me again.
Stacy
January 22, 2012 at 1:28 am (UTC 1) Link to this comment
In other words, you’re a disgusting genocidal idiot, useful only as an object-lesson in irrationality.
Upright Ape
January 21, 2012 at 8:27 pm (UTC 1) Link to this comment
I am Iranian and I think Maryam should ban this hateful racist. Freedom of expression doesn’t mean you have to put up with everything. As evidenced by the revocation of the Press TV license.
Maryam Namazie
January 21, 2012 at 9:31 pm (UTC 1) Link to this comment
Freedom of expression is for people not for states and the powers that be. You can never compare Press TV with an individual’s freedom of expression. Freedom of expression is the individual’s right vis-a-vis the state.
PersianPower88
January 21, 2012 at 10:18 pm (UTC 1) Link to this comment
When the filthy subhuman Arab rats cut the Spring of Khosrow into shreds casting it as blasphemy. Did you like their ass? Did you tell Iranians who began rebellious movements who cursed the subhuman rat parasites “racists”? Did you call the Iranians who rebelled at the subhuman Arab parasites destruction of our centuries of knowledge at the libraries of Ctesiphon racists as well?
I despise every single Arab that breaths, I hate Arabs with every fiber of my soul and being. I have so much anger and rage towards Arabs it can’t be put in words. Arabs are subhuman, parasites, they are mud people, they are garbage, they are filth, I despise them I hate them.
You have no idea how much hatred I have towards Arabs. I could care less if it’s a 3 year old Arab girl or a 30 year old Arab man. I HATE these people to an extreme you could never understand.
Perhaps when you learn about the crimes Arabs have committed against us you will learn why I hate them so much.
Upright Ape
January 21, 2012 at 10:40 pm (UTC 1) Link to this comment
Thank you for so unequivocally proving me right.
PersianPower88
January 22, 2012 at 1:47 am (UTC 1) Link to this comment
Disgusting Arab lover.
Taazi parast.
Maryam Namazie
January 22, 2012 at 12:29 am (UTC 1) Link to this comment
Fuck off.
Maryam Namazie
January 21, 2012 at 9:33 pm (UTC 1) Link to this comment
And I despise your views. When oh when will you get lost?
Mriana
January 21, 2012 at 7:58 pm (UTC 1) Link to this comment
You know, it is interesting how she interrupts you, while you are speaking, but yet, I didn’t notice anyone interrupting her, as she did you, while she spoke. What’s up with that? Seems to me, she didn’t want you to say anything about it that could be the truth about Press TV.
PersianPower88
January 21, 2012 at 10:39 pm (UTC 1) Link to this comment
In case anyone wants a laugh. Next time you refer someone to a PressTV article, link them to PressTV.INFO and not .COM…
http://presstv.info/
^^The imagery may be a little shocking, I’d warn against clicking that link. Nonetheless, use it to shock your friends.
Stacy
January 22, 2012 at 1:32 am (UTC 1) Link to this comment
Maryam, notice PersianPower88′s nym. I don’t know if you’re aware of it, but in the U.S. the number 88 is code associated with neo-Nazis and white supremacists (H being the eight letter of the alphabet, “88″ stands for the acronym HH, for “heil Hitler”.)
PersianPower88
January 22, 2012 at 1:46 am (UTC 1) Link to this comment
What are you, a fucking hajji or something? Quit defending Arabs you disgusting half breed.
Mriana
January 22, 2012 at 2:00 am (UTC 1) Link to this comment
As much as I support Maryam in allowing people to have free speech on her blog, your posts disgust me too, PersianPower. As a U.S. citizen, I am not unaware of the 88 symbolism either, but that is not the only thing that disgusts me about your posts. The words you use, such as “half breed”, sand[n*****], and other like words, are offensive. This has nothing to do with Arabs, but humans in general. You don’t even treat others with respect and I’m not even sure you treat yourself with any respect either, given how much you hate others and treat others. Your posts are down right abusive of others and they have nothing to do with the harm religion causes. They are purely hate for other human beings, right down to Maryam’s guests. No one here has called you names, but more than once Maryam has asked you to leave, as well as to “fuck off”. Why don’t you, esp since you are not here to discuss the harms religious beliefs cause others. Without religious delusions, Arabs could very well be just like any other humans in the world. They might not be so destructive without religious dogma. The same holds true for Evangelical Fundamentalists Christians. It is the religious delusions that cause people to do such things, not ethnicity or skin colour.
PersianPower88
January 22, 2012 at 4:23 am (UTC 1) Link to this comment
I am a lover of history, I have read countless books on Iran and Iranians. It is only when one truly grasps the history of Iran and Iranians that he or she may truly understand why we as a people NEED to HATE ALL Arabs.
Your idea of the crimes Arabs have committed against us is nothing compared to the reality. In my studies, I have found nights were I was blank in the face, shivering cold, with feelings in my heart that you have never felt in your life. The things these Arabs have done to us, the evil, the barbarism, at many points I wanted to believe that a God was out there, because the Arab, the Arab is like a Satan in my eyes.
My hatred of Arabs will never cease. It is only until you step into the shoes of the eternal Persian man that you will know our hate, it is only until you have felt the ravages of the Arab onslaught, how they sold our Kings daughter in the street, they ripped our cultural treasures into shreds, burned our libraries, and raped our holy racial stock.
I truly hate every single living breathing Arab on earth, every Arab, no matter how old or young, is responsible for crimes that make my heart wrench.
If there was a God, he would destroy Arabs once and for all.
Mriana
January 22, 2012 at 4:43 am (UTC 1) Link to this comment
Oh OK then by that reasoning, PersianPower, all Black people should hate White people and all women who were sexually molested by their fathers should hate men. I’m sorry, but your reasoning just doesn’t fit with the reality of human beings. It’s the stupidest thing I’ve ever heard.
Maryam Namazie
January 22, 2012 at 11:20 am (UTC 1) Link to this comment
If there was a God, I pray he would ban you from any site related to free-thought and relegate you to neo-nazi sites where you belong. If only he existed. But if he did, he’d most likely love you and ban me, so I guess I am glad he doesn’t exist.
BillyJoe
January 22, 2012 at 4:14 am (UTC 1) Link to this comment
Just to change tact with PP88:
Maybe he can inform us what has caused him to hate Arabs so much.
(Personal anecdote: Someone called Paul cause me much distress in my youth and, for a long time, I took this out on anyone called Paul. That is until I met someone who I instantly liked only to find out at the end of our conversation that his name was Paul. Since then we have had A PM called Paul who I much admired. My hate for that name has now completely dissolved.)
PersianPower88
January 22, 2012 at 4:27 am (UTC 1) Link to this comment
As I said before, my hatred of Arabs arose only when I began to study the history of Iran and Iranians, I would recommend that you get into some literature on Iran.
This is a good place to start:
http://www.amazon.com/Iranians-Persia-Islam-Soul-Nation/dp/0452275636/
If you can eventually work your way up to the complete Cambridge history of Iran and then later into the works of Iranologists like Richard Frye you’ll gain a clear picture of why I hate Arabs so incredibly much.
Allow me to leave you with a quote from the book above I always enjoyed:
“O, Iran! Where have all those kings, who adorned you with justice, equity, and munificence, who decorated you with pomp and splendor gone? From that date when the barbarian, savage, coarse Bedouin Arabs sold your king’s daughter in the street and cattle market, you have not seen a bright day, and have lain hid in darkness.”
Rustam quoted in The Iranians: Persia, Islam and the Soul of a Nation, p. 62.
Winterwind
January 22, 2012 at 12:02 pm (UTC 1) Link to this comment
Your rantings are irrational. What the Arab Empire did to Persia is no different from what the Persian Empire did to the Babylonians, Greeks, Hittites, Jews, Hindus, Canaanites, Turks and Scythians, to name just a few. If you’re going to hold modern Arabs responsible for what their ancestors did a thousand years ago, by the same logic, all Iranian people are guilty of invading and destroying the nations that Persia subjugated in ancient times.
You keep crying and whining about how the Arab sold your King’s daughter in the street and destroyed your priceless works of art. Well, what about the Persian soldiers who destroyed Jerusalem and carried the Hebrews off into bondage, leaving the old and weak to weep by the rivers of Israel? Or the Persian warriors who terrorised Greece, raping the daughters of Athens and pillaging, despoiling the wonders of Hellenic civilisation? What about the Babylonians and the Hindus, and all the other hundreds of civilisations who have as much cause to hate Persia as you have to hate the Arabs? If being descended from invaders is a capital offence, then we all deserve to die. So why don’t you do the world a favour and start by killing yourself?
History is all well and good, but it can have a disturbing effect on a weak mind.
Maryam Namazie
January 22, 2012 at 12:09 pm (UTC 1) Link to this comment
Good one!