Britain revokes license of Iran’s Press TV

LONDON — Britain’s telecoms regulator on Friday revoked the license of Iranian state-owned television station Press TV, and said the channel would disappear from U.K. TV screens by the end of the day.

Ofcom said it was not convinced the station, an arm of the Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting, had control over the programs it aired — a requirement for gaining a broadcasting license. It is a crime in Britain to broadcast without a license.

Press TV called the decision “a clear instance of censorship.” But the regulator said it had “offered to assist them in coming into compliance” with the rules by registering its license in Tehran, without success.

Ofcom said it had contacted satellite broadcaster BSkyB — which carried Press TV — telling it to remove the station from its platform.

The threat of sanctions has been hanging over Press TV since May, when Ofcom ruled that the station broke broadcasting rules by airing a 2009 interview with detained Newsweek correspondent Maziar Bahari.

Bahari was jailed as a suspected spy following Iran’s disputed presidential elections and said his televised interview had been scripted by his captors, who threatened to execute him unless he cooperated.

Last month the regulator fined Press TV 100,000 pounds ($153,000) for broadcasting an interview under duress. Ofcom said Friday that the fine had not been paid.

Press TV has claimed for months that British authorities were planning to shut the station down.

In October Press TV suggested it had nettled British officials with its critical coverage of student protests in London and the rioting that broke out across England in August. It also noted that a 2010 U.S. State Department cable published by WikiLeaks cited a senior British diplomat as saying that the U.K. was “exploring ways to limit the operations of the IRIB’s Press TV service.”

In a letter to Ofcom earlier this month, Press TV chief executive Mohammad Sarafraz accused the regulator of suffering from a “delusional belief that by revoking the license it can suppress Press TV from broadcasting the truth about Britain’s Royal regime.”

Launched in 2007, Press TV has attracted several well-known British faces as presenters, including former lawmaker George Galloway, who was expelled from the Labour Party in 2003 for urging British soldiers not to fight in Iraq, and Lauren Booth, sister-in-law of former Prime Minister Tony Blair.

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