19 December 2017

Nottingham-based Muslim radio station falls foul of Ofcom

For the second time this year, Radio Dawn has fallen foul of rules laid down by UK broadcasting watchdog, Ofcom.

Last December, the station broadcast a piece of devotional vocal music known as a nasheed that praised the Taliban which included the line:

"It must be understood that justice will only be handed out at the point of the sword."

When Ofcom censured Dawn in August, Karimia, the licensee, said it was “extremely embarrassed by what happened” and that it did “not agree with any of the content”. The licensee assured Ofcom it was:

"Against any type of material, which encourages or promotes such discriminative and negative messages of Islam."

It explained that staff were away on holiday on the day of broadcast (26 December 2016) and, as a result, Radio Dawn was automatically broadcasting pre-recorded material. The nasheed had been downloaded from the internet in 2013, “possibly by a volunteer”, and had “never been broadcast before”.

Well, Radio Dawn has found itself in trouble with Ofcom again – this time over advice given by scholar “Mufti1” to a caller in a phone-in programme regarding fasting and diabetes. In May this year the caller was told that Muslims with health issues should only consult Muslim scholars or Muslim doctors.

The station, according to this report, apologised and said that: On no account was it the intention of the presenter or Radio Dawn to suggest to listeners that they do not seek appropriate medical advice. [The Freethinker] Read more