A satellite TV station based in suburban England is being investigated after allegations it broadcast a cleric\u2019s \u201chate sermons\u201d and \u201cvile rants\u201d to audiences across the Middle East.<\/p>\n
The UK\u2019s independent television regulator says it has launched an investigation into Fadak TV, which was founded by Sheikh Yasser al-Habib. The Shia cleric has been accused of making remarks on air considered offensive to Sunni Muslims, and of stirring sectarian tensions in the Islamic world.<\/p>\n
Sheikh Yasser\u2019s UK-licensed station is based in a former Christian church hall in the leafy village of Fulmer in suburban Buckinghamshire.<\/p>\n
Ofcom, which regulates communications in the UK, told Al Arabiya News it has recently launched an investigation into the station.<\/p>\n
\u201cFadak TV is under investigation by Ofcom and if the channel is found to be breaking our rules, then we will take robust action. Our powers allow us to issues fines and take channels off air,\u201d a spokesman said.<\/p>\n
Ofcom reportedly investigated Fadak TV in 2012 after a sermon by Sheikh al-Habib.<\/p>\n
The UK has strict rules on broadcasting so-called \u2018hate speech\u2019. But the UK media reported that Fadak TV is not broadcast in Europe, and so Ofcom has been powerless to act.<\/p>\n
The regulator has nonetheless decided to launch a fresh probe into Fadak after new press reports over Sheikh Yasser\u2019s sermons.<\/p>\n
According to the Daily Mail, Sheikh Yasser was reportedly granted asylum in the UK in 2004, having been jailed in his native Kuwait for insulting Sunni Muslims.<\/p>\n
The newspaper accused Sheikh Yasser of broadcasting \u201cvile rants\u201d and \u201chate sermons\u201d from his suburban base, which the cleric reportedly bought for \u00a32 million.<\/p>\n
Dr Omer El-Hamdoon, president of the Muslim Association of Britain, said he welcomed investigations into anyone said to be stirring tensions.<\/p>\n
\u201cPeople who incite hatred do not serve the society’s interest whether it\u2019s Muslim or non-Muslim,\u201d he told the Al Arabiya News Channel. \u201cThis is why we welcome any governmental measure to investigate anyone working on pitting sects against one another. [Such measures] would prevent strife among Muslims.\u201d<\/p>\n
Chris Doyle, the director of the London-based Council for Arab-British Understanding (CAABU), said he welcomed the investigation into Sheikh Yasser\u2019s TV channel.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe should be investigated,\u201d Doyle said. \u201cIt is clearly that delicate and difficult balance between freedom of speech and direct incitement. Understandably, there will very little sympathy in the UK for this extremist rhetoric.\u201d<\/p>\n
Sheikh Yasser did not respond to requests for comment when contacted by Al Arabiya News.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
A satellite TV station based in suburban England is being investigated after allegations it broadcast a cleric\u2019s \u201chate sermons\u201d and \u201cvile rants\u201d to audiences across the Middle East. The UK\u2019s independent television regulator says it has launched an investigation into Fadak TV, which was founded by Sheikh Yasser al-Habib. The Shia cleric has been accused …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":8667,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"iawp_total_views":4,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[462,371,163,278,314,563],"class_list":["post-8666","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","","category-islamic-research","tag-cleric","tag-muslim","tag-ticker","tag-uk","tag-west","tag-yasser-habib"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wilayah.info\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8666","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wilayah.info\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wilayah.info\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wilayah.info\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wilayah.info\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8666"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/wilayah.info\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8666\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8671,"href":"https:\/\/wilayah.info\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8666\/revisions\/8671"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wilayah.info\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/8667"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wilayah.info\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8666"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wilayah.info\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8666"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wilayah.info\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8666"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}