The BBC said on Friday it was investigating a complaint by a prominent human rights campaigner in Britain who accuses its Iranian service of homophobia.
A UK-based human rights campaigner, Peter Tatchell, said he had contacted the BBC World Service after its Persian unit ran a blog that used derogatory language in Farsi to describe the gay community.
The post from October 2018 was amended last month after complaints, he said. But a video run on the BBC Persian TV station remains online, apparently mocking a Pride event in London in 2019.
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“A freelance opinion piece has been updated with an acknowledgment on our website,” a BBC spokesman told AFP.
“We will provide a full response to Mr. Tatchell in due course,” he said, declining to comment further.
The BBC said it was investigating a complaint by a prominent human rights campaigner in Britain who accuses its Iranian service of homophobia. https://t.co/r33quWJmeG
— The New Arab (@The_NewArab) January 8, 2021
The blog on the BBC Persian website was updated to say that previously “a word was used to refer to homosexual relations in the historical context of Iran that is not among the terms that BBC uses to describe sexual orientations, and was therefore inappropriate”.
But in a letter to BBC bosses, Tatchell demanded a public apology and the dismissal of BBC Persian director Rozita Lotfi.
He also pressed for an inquiry “into persistent allegations that BBC Persian is infiltrated by staff who are apologists or possibly agents for the Iranian dictatorship”.
BBC Persian is banned in Iran and according to a report by UN experts last March, its expatriate staff has faced intimidation from the regime, including death threats against their Iranian-based relatives.
One of the words you can see in Arabic is کونی , pronounced “kooni.”In Arabic Language ‘kooni’ means ‘young’. But in Persian ‘koon’ means ‘arse’. And ‘kooni’ is literally ‘arse-y’ or ‘arse person’, and a pejorative word used for gay men.
2/4— Stop BBC Persian Hate (@stopbbcphate) January 5, 2021
So this is the BBC Persian presenter’s Instagram post: Someone who misspelled Abdel Fattah el-Sisi on the left-hand side wall swore at him (funny smileys)
PS: By the way from the control room I was informed kooni means young in Arabic.
3/4— Stop BBC Persian Hate (@stopbbcphate) January 5, 2021
The London-based broadcasting company said at the time that there had been a “recent escalation in harassment” of BBC Persian staff and their families, coinciding with a crackdown on dissent within Iran.
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BBC Persian television had started its transmission on 14th January 2009. The service is broadcast by satellite and is also available online. It is also aimed at the 120 million Persian-speakers in Iran, Afghanistan, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan.
@franunsworth @grvlx001 question for you two : If your staff made jokes using the N-word about Black people or the b-word about women, would that be ok too? What would you do about it? Shame on you
4/4
— Stop BBC Persian Hate (@stopbbcphate) January 5, 2021
However, it has been accused by UK media that Iranian authorities have been long-running the campaign of persecution and intimidation of BBC Persian staff.