TV Director Urges Muslims To React Against West's Media Terrorism

Tehran, Oct 17, IRNA – Director of a major Iranian TV channel called on his counterparts in all Islamic states Wednesday to show a reaction against the illegal move of the Utelsat Company in barring a number of Iranian TV channels. Speaking to IRNA, Director of the Quran Channel Hassan Garoosi also urged directors of the Islamic states' TV channels to protest against the "spread of the wrong culture of media terrorism." Garoosi strongly criticized the European Union's support for the defamatory movie against the holy Prophet of Islam (PBUH) which has provoked anger among Muslim and non-Muslim nations. "The EU justified the insult to the Prophet of Islam (PBUH) under the pretext of freedom of expression while its moves are against all democratic and international principles," said the director. He stressed that the move lacked any legal bases and was against their claims of freedom of expression and freedom of free flow of information. "Barring programs of the Iranian TV channels will not only damage the process of reporting realities of Islam and the pure culture of Shia, but it also add to the increasing power of Quran on the world public opinion," Garoosi said. The Utelsat Company made the move under the mounting pressure of the US-Zionist lobby and based on a demand made by the French Conseil supérieur de l'audiovisuel (CSA) which was created in 1989, claiming to regulate the various electronic media in France, such as radio and television, including through eventual censorship. European satellite provider Eutelsat SA has stopped the broadcast of several Iranian satellite channels, including Press TV, al-Alam, Jam-e-Jam 1 and 2, Sahar 1 and 2, Islamic Republic of Iran News Network, Quran TV, and the Arabic-language al-Kawthar following an order by the European Commission. In a flagrant violation of the freedom of speech, the company ordered media services company, Arqiva, to take the Iranian satellite channels off one of its Hot Bird frequencies on Monday. The decision follows months of jamming of Iranian channels by European satellite companies. The Utelsat is currently broadcasting over 1,000 satellite networks for Iranians which are mostly of obscene and immoral nature and are against cultural and religious values of the Iranian nation./end