Britain's Islam Channel Censored After Condoning Marital Rape, Violence Toward Women
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}A Muslim religious channel in Britain is being censored after allowing presenters on air to condone marital rape and violence toward women, and for calling women who wear perfume in mosques "prostitutes."
The U.K. Daily Mail reports that in one program, the host told viewers that it was “not strange” and “not such a big problem” for a man to force his wife to have sex.
The U.K.'s T.V. watchdog, Ofcom, ruled the Islam Channel breached the broadcasting code in five different programs between May 2008 and October 2009.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}In a program that aired in May 2008, Ofcom says the presenter clearly believes some physical violence is acceptable against women.
During the program, the presenter stated: “In Islam we have no right to hit the woman in a way that damages her eye or damages her tooth or damages her face or makes her ugly. Maximum what you can do, you can see the pen over here, in my hand, this kind of stick can be used just to make her feel that you are not happy with her,” U.K. Daily Mail reports.
In a response to the report, the Islam Channel said it “does not condone or encourage violence toward women under any circumstances” and “does not condone or encourage marital rape.”
Ofcom previously imposed a statutory sanction on the channel in 2007 for various breaches, reports the U.K. Daily Mail.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Ofcom said that it would not impose a fine again the channel, but requested the Islam Channel to attend a meeting with the regulator to discuss its procedures for ensuring compliance with the Code.
The Islam Channel was launched six years ago and had previously been accused of giving airtime to extreme views, including those of Hizb ut-Tahrir, a group that Tony Blair said he wanted to ban in the aftermath of the 2005 London transit bombings.