LONDON: The British government on Monday summoned Iran’s top diplomat in London to condemn “serious threats” to the lives of UK-based journalists, after a Persian-language TV network was forced to relocate.
Charge d’Affaires Mehdi Hosseini Matin was hauled in “to make clear the UK will not tolerate threats to life and media freedom,” British Foreign Secretary James Cleverly said in a statement.
The private network Iran International announced Saturday that it had been forced on UK police advice to shut down its London studios, and had switched to 24-hour broadcasting from Washington.
The station has provided extensive coverage of anti-government protests that erupted in Iran five months ago, and said two of its senior journalists received death threats in response to their reporting.
“I am appalled by the Iranian regime’s continuing threats to the lives of UK-based journalists and have today summoned its representative to make clear this will not be tolerated,” Cleverly added.
“The UK will always stand up to countries who threaten our fundamental values of freedom of expression and the media.”
The diplomat, Iran’s most senior representative in London in the absence of an ambassador, was directed to meet with the head of the UK foreign ministry’s Middle East department.
London’s Metropolitan police said Saturday that working with the MI5 spy agency, since the start of 2022, it had foiled 15 plots “to either kidnap or even kill” people seen as “enemies of the (Iranian) regime.”
But the decision to ask Iran International, which employs around 100 journalists in the British capital, to shutter its office sparked concerns from rights groups.
“UK is certainly able to guarantee the safety of #IranInternational. It’s a question of political will,” said Mahmood Amiry-Moghaddam, director of the Norway-based Iran Human Rights group.
“I hope it’s a temporary measure and that @IranIntl will resume its work from London soon,” he added on Twitter, arguing it was “unacceptable that UK gives in to terrorist threats.”
Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s spokesman pushed back at such claims on Monday, telling reporters that the police have been working “extremely hard” to protect the station’s staff.
That work continues “to ensure they are protected,” he added.
Britain continues to host two other major Farsi outlets: BBC Persian and the widely followed Manoto TV.
Also on Monday, the UK government imposed new sanctions on eight senior Iranian figures it said are responsible for domestic oppression.
London said the move, hours after the European Union announced asset freezes and visa bans on Iran’s education and culture ministers, was “part of wider efforts to hold the regime to account over its behavior globally.”
The latest UK sanctions targeted three Iranian judges who had imposed the death penalty against protesters, and five commanders from Iran’s Revolutionary Guards.
Cleverly said the UK steps showed the UK “will never allow the regime’s threats to go unchallenged.”
He added the eight Iranians now subject to travel bans and asset freezes were “responsible for horrific human rights violations in Iran, including the killing of children.”
London has hit more than 50 Iranian individuals and entities with sanctions in response to alleged human rights violations since the latest period of unrest began last September.
UK summons Iran envoy over ‘threats’ to journalists
https://arab.news/jcn3f
UK summons Iran envoy over ‘threats’ to journalists
- “I am appalled by the Iranian regime’s continuing threats to the lives of UK-based journalists and have today summoned its representative,” Cleverly said
Dentsu opens sports practice in MENA with Riyadh HQ
DUBAI: International advertising group Dentsu has announced the launch of its dedicated sports practice, dentsu Sports International, in the Middle East and North Africa region.
The new practice, which focuses on sports marketing and analytics services, will be headquartered in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, with additional offices in the UAE.
To provide end-to-end service to clients, the group brings together three dentsu businesses: dentsu Sports International Commercial, MKTG Sports + Entertainment and dentsu Sports Analytics.
Charlie Wylie, managing director for Europe, Middle East and Africa at dentsu Sports International, said: “dentsu Sports International will serve as a strategic sports and entertainment arm of dentsu in MENA, offering comprehensive solutions tailored to the needs of brands and rights holders.”
The company has appointed Olaf Borutz as vice president of commercial development, reporting to dentsu Sports International’s global chief commercial officer, Echo Li.
Borutz’s previous role as head of sports and events at law firm Al Tamimi & Company saw him advise clients on sports and events-related commercial matters, including government bodies, rights holders, agencies and players of the Saudi Pro League and Qatar Stars League.
“The appetite for sports marketing in the Kingdom is at an all-time high, with Saudi’s ambitions and investment in this space only expected to grow,” said Tarek Daouk, CEO, dentsu MENA.
A significant 62 percent of Saudi sports fans say that sport plays a bigger role in their lives than before, according to a new study conducted by dentsu Sports International.
The study also found that fans spend more time and money than their international counterparts on live events in the Kingdom, with Saudi fans attending an average of six events in person a year, more than the UK average of two events per year.
Saudi Arabia’s significant youth population is passionate about sports, with 68 percent of 18–24-year-old Saudis saying they find attending sports events more rewarding than other entertainment events.
The study also revealed that these younger consumers are the most likely to purchase premium tickets, spending 31 percent more a ticket than older fans.
Daouk said: “It’s an exciting time for sports in the region and we are thrilled to launch dentsu’s bespoke sports and entertainment offering.”
Tunisia remands journalists arrested over critical comments
- Broadcaster Borhen Bssais and political commentator Mourad Zeghidi were arrested Saturday under a decree criminalizing ‘spreading false information’ among other charges, spokesman Mohamed Zitouna said
TUNIS: A Tunisian court on Wednesday ordered two journalists to be held in remand until the completion of investigations into critical comments, a court spokesman said.
Broadcaster Borhen Bssais and political commentator Mourad Zeghidi were arrested Saturday under a decree criminalizing “spreading false information” among other charges, spokesman Mohamed Zitouna said.
Zeghidi is being investigated over social media statements last February and a post in support of Mohamed Boughalleb, another journalist and critic of President Kais Saied who has been detained separately.
Bssais was arrested on accusations of “having harmed President Kais Saied through radio broadcasts and statements” online between 2019 and 2022, according to his lawyer Nizar Ayed.
Their trial is set to begin on May 22, according to their lawyers.
Both media figures are prosecuted under a law ratified by Saied in September 2022.
The law punishes people with up to five years in prison for the use of social media to “produce, spread (or) disseminate ... false news” and “slander others, tarnish their reputation, financially or morally harm them.”
Journalists and opposition figures have said it has been used to stifle dissent.
Since the decree came into force, more than 60 journalists, lawyers and opposition figures have been prosecuted under it, according to the National Union of Tunisian Journalists.
The same night Bssais and Zeghidi were taken into police custody, masked police raided the Tunisian bar association and arrested lawyer Sonia Dahmani, also on the same law.
On Monday, another lawyer was forcibly arrested at the association’s headquarters.
The president of the bar, Hatem Meziou, on Tuesday called for an end to “the abuse of power” and “violence” targeting the lawyers.
The European Union also expressed concern over a string of arrests of civil society figures in Tunisia — the latest sign of a tightening clampdown on freedoms under Saied.
Nongovernmental organizations have decried a rollback of freedoms in Tunisia since Saied began ruling by decree after a sweeping power grab in 2021.
‘Blockout’ trend targets celebrities over Gaza silence
- Selena Gomez, Zendaya and Kim Kardashian are among the celebrities who have lost hundreds of thousands of followers
- Boycott campaign gained traction following Met Gala event last week in New York
LONDON: A new trend threatening to boycott celebrities over their refusal to speak out about the Gaza conflict is gaining momentum on social media.
Known as “Blockout 2024,” the movement has surged in popularity following the Met Gala last week.
As part of a solidarity campaign, social media users are calling for the blocking of accounts of celebrities who have remained silent on the humanitarian crisis in Gaza.
High-profile figures such as Taylor Swift, Justin Bieber, and Drake are among the hundreds of celebrities facing this “digital guillotine.”
A full list is circulating on social media, leading to a significant loss of followers on Instagram and other platforms.
Actress and singer Selena Gomez reportedly lost 1 million followers on Instagram and 100,000 on X, according to US-based social media analytics site Sonic Blue.
Fellow actress and singer Zendaya, reality TV star Kim Kardashian, and her sister Kylie Jenner have also seen hundreds of thousands of followers drop.
Pro-Palestinian activists have been pressuring celebrities for months to show more support for Gaza civilians. This growing discontent reached a tipping point last week when the Met Gala’s glitz and glamour coincided with Israel’s announcement of a military offensive in Rafah.
@ladyfromtheoutside #greenscreen #greenscreenvideo #digitine #digitalguillotine #haleyybaylee ♬ original sound - Meagan
The movement was sparked by a TikTok video from influencer Haley Kalil at the Met Gala on May 7, where she lip-synced to the phrase “Let them eat cake.”
This phrase, attributed to Queen Marie Antoinette, drew parallels to the French Revolution, symbolizing indifference to the suffering of the impoverished.
“It’s time for the people to conduct what I want to call a ‘digital guillotine.’ A ‘digitine,’ if you will,” said TikTok creator @ladyfromtheoutside, who kicked off the movement with her viral video.
“It’s time to block all the celebrities, influencers and wealthy socialites who are not using their resources to help those in dire need. We gave them their platforms. It’s time to take it back, take our views away, our likes, our comments, our money.”
According to Gaza authorities, at least 35,000 people, mostly women and children, have been killed in the Palestinian territory during the seven-month war, which has been widely condemned as failing to comply with international humanitarian law.
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BBC investigation leads to arrest of one of world’s most notorious people smugglers
- Barzan Majeed, nicknamed ‘Scorpion,’ is caught in Iraqi Kurdistan days after release of BBC podcast series by journalists who tracked him down and interviewed him
- Senior local official confirms officials used information from the broadcaster’s investigation to help find fugitive believed to have helped smuggle thousands of people to UK
DUBAI: Kurdish security forces arrested Barzan Majeed, described as one of the world’s most notorious people smugglers, in Iraqi Kurdistan on Sunday morning.
Nicknamed “Scorpion,” the fugitive is believed to have been involved in smuggling an estimated 10,000 people across the English Channel to the UK. He was arrested days after the release of a BBC podcast series in which investigative journalists tracked him down to the city of Sulaymaniyah in Iraq and interviewed him there.
During the interview, Majeed said he had lost count of the number of people he helped to smuggle, adding: “Maybe a thousand, maybe 10,000. I don’t know, I didn’t count.”
He admitted that between 2016 and 2019 he was one of two people who helped run a people-smuggling operation in Belgium and France but denied he was the mastermind of the operation.
“A couple of people, when they get arrested, they say, ‘We’re working for him’ — they want to get less (of a) sentence,” he said.
Originally from Iraq, Majeed moved to the city of Nottingham, in England, in 2013 but was deported two years later. He had been on the run since failing to appear at a court in Belgium for a sentencing hearing in November 2022.
The UK’s National Crime Agency issued a warrant for his arrest that same year. The agency, which confirmed his arrest, said: “We are grateful to the BBC for highlighting his case and remain determined to do all we can to disrupt and dismantle the criminal networks involved in smuggling people to the UK, wherever they operate.”
A senior member of the Kurdistan Regional Government confirmed its officials had used information from the BBC investigation to locate and arrest Majeed.
Each year, thousands of people flee Iraq, including its Kurdistan Region, in the hope of finding a better life in the UK or other parts of Europe. In many cases, they pay people smugglers to transport them, but the routes and methods used by the smugglers are often dangerous and the migrants face harsh weather and potentially deadly travel conditions.
Germany deported 222 Iraqi citizens in the first three months of this year as part of an alleged agreement between Berlin and Baghdad to deport migrants who do not qualify to remain in Germany, media organization Rudaw, which is based in Iraqi Kurdistan, reported this week.
Saudi radio station MBC FM marks 30 years of broadcasting with special events
- Bosses say the celebrations honor the pioneering station’s enduring contributions to the media landscape in the Kingdom
- ‘MBC FM has captured the ears and hearts of millions of Saudis over 3 decades’ and ‘continues to lead the radio airwaves with the love and loyalty of listeners,’ says group’s chairperson
LONDON: As pioneering Saudi radio station MBC FM celebrates three decades of broadcasting in the Kingdom, it is marking the milestone with a series of events and initiatives at the MBC Group headquarters in Riyadh under the theme “30 and Still Going Strong.”
The celebrations, which began on May 12, honor the station’s enduring contributions to Saudi Arabia’s media landscape, bosses said. They include competitions, entertainment events and exclusive interviews with renowned artists and stars from across the Gulf region and the wider Arab world.
“Just as MBC FM has captured the ears and hearts of millions of Saudis over three decades, being the first commercial FM radio station in the Kingdom, the radio and music sector at MBC Group today continues to lead the radio airwaves with the love and loyalty of listeners,” said Walid Al-Ibrahim, the chairperson of MBC Group.
In addition to providing entertainment for listeners, the station has served as a launchpad for emerging talent, he added, as he highlighted its influence on local culture.
Ziad Hamza, general manager of the radio and music Sector at MBC Group, said the station remains committed to its ongoing evolution while also honoring its strong history and legacy. In particular he highlighted investments in infrastructure, diversity of content and audience engagement as the station adapted to changing tastes and preferences among listeners.
“We have worked on developing the infrastructure and creating a comprehensive modern environment for the radio sector … by investing in Saudi youth talents, including radio presenters, producers, programmers and technicians,” said Hamza.
“We have also launched the MoodMBC application, which includes MBC FM, Panorama FM and MBC Podcast, in addition to enhanced options for direct communication, as well as rich and diverse content catering to poetry lovers, music session enthusiasts, and current affairs followers.
“Our goal has always been to strike a balance between the tastes of listeners and the needs of advertisers, facilitating our clients’ access to various target audience segments around the clock.”
