Iqra Bangla rapped by Ofcom for derogatory comments towards LGBT community
Iqra Bangla has been rapped by Ofcom for content it found offensive towards the LGBT community, during the show ‘Islahi Iztema’ in March 2022.
Ofcom received a complaint that the above programme included statements which it considered amounted to hate speech against the LGBT community and was concerned that the speaker in the programme compared the “LGBT community with dogs and pigs, saying they are worse than animals”. The complainant considered the statements made in the programme “disturb the harmony and cohesion of British values and law”.
The broadcaster responded to Ofcom by saying that the inclusion of such language as was expressed by the speaker (much of which it said was drawn directly from the Qur’an) in a discussion of doctrinal issues may cause offence if taken out of context. However, the Licensee said in context, it considered any potential for offence was “mitigated to the point that no breach of the Code had taken place”. Specifically.
Ofcom acknowledged Iqra Bangla’s audience was likely to expect the channel to show programmes which focus on Islamic principles regarding subjects including homosexuality. We accepted that some Islamic religious texts including the Qur’an refer to homosexuality as morally reprehensible.
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Ofcom acknowledges the measures the Licensee has taken in light of the issues raised by this investigation. However, Ofcom remained concerned that this abusive and derogatory content was broadcast without sufficient contextualisation or challenge. We considered that in describing homosexual people in this way the programme went beyond a theological and doctrinal discussion about the status of homosexuality in Islam and extended to abusive and derogatory treatment.
Ofcom found the broadcaster in breach of two rules.
