U.K. Radio Station Suspended After Airing Sermons 'Encouraging' Violence Against Non-Muslims
British authorities suspended the license of a Muslim radio station based in Sheffield, England after it aired 25 hours of sermons "encouraging and condoning" violence against non-Muslims.
The Office of Communications (Ofcom) issued the suspension after it verified a complaint made against Iman FM station that it aired lectures by Anwar Al-Awlaki, an influential cleric killed by a U.S. drone strike in 2011, Breitbart reported.
Ofcom said it had "serious concerns" over Iman FM's decision to broadcast the series of pre-recorded lectures by a "widely-known terrorist leader and al-Qaeda recruiter."
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The lectures "amounted to a direct call to action to members of the Muslim community to prepare for and carry out violent action against non-Muslim people," the British government-approved broadcasting regulatory body said.
Ofcom threatened to shut down the radio station if its managers fail to submit a satisfactory explanation as to what happened.
Iman FM admitted that they had broadcast the lectures by Al-Awlaki during Ramadan, The Star reported.
The U.S. government branded Al-Awlaki as a global terrorist in 2010 and was placed on the UN Security Council Resolution's list of individuals associated with al-Qaeda the following year.
His sermons are believed to have inspired Islamist terrorist attacks in recent years, including the Charlie Hebdo office attack in Paris in 2015, which killed 12 people, and the 2009 Ford Hood shooting where 13 U.S. soldiers were slain.
According to the radio station, their regular presenter during the live daily breakfast show from 8am to 10am was on Ramadan leave, prompting them to broadcast a series of pre-recorded Islamic lectures.
Iman FM officials claimed that due to Ramadan-related time constraints, they were not able to fully listen to the recordings prior to broadcast.
They also claimed that they were "not aware of the background of the preacher and had no knowledge of him being proscribed by the United Nations."
"Had this fact been known," they said they would not have broadcast the lectures.
"This is very, very sad because none of us had any idea this lecture was preaching hatred," Iman FM's chief executive Mohammad Mughal told the Daily Mail.
However, the Ofcom described the radio station's claims as "not credible."
