Push off now, Press TV, and take your conspiracy theories with you

A week that began with an insane decision from the European Court of Human Rights has come to an end with a sensible decision from Ofcom. The Iranian government’s propaganda channel in London, Press TV, has just had its license to broadcast revoked.

Insomniac Islamists will no longer be able to enjoy their weekly dose of programmes presented by the likes of Lauren Booth, Tariq Ramadan or Derek Conway. And of course they will now forever miss The Real Deal with George Galloway. On that show you could see such treats as Galloway interviewing ‘President’ Ahmadinejad. It is a wonderful interview, not least thanks to Galloway’s thoughtful attempt to lay out the terrain for his interviewee, explaining that he himself needed ‘police protection in London from the Iranian opposition because of my support for your election campaign. I mention this so you know where I’m coming from,’ he added helpfully.

As my colleague Houriya Ahmed pointed out last month, Press TV showed its colours in great and small matters. Muslim and non-Muslim presenters alike are required to wear head coverings while on air and broadcasting from London. But it was during the Green Revolution in 2009 when things were at their worst. The murder of Neda Agha Soltan by supporters of the regime was dismissed by Press TV as a Western conspiracy.  The channel did everything it could to ignore, diminish and then deride the popular and brave uprising on the Iranian streets. During this period Tariq Ramadan — now of Oxford University — used his programme on global issues not to focus on the gunning down of young protestors on the streets of Iran by the bosses of Press TV, but, rather, to focus on the dangerous rise of ‘Islamophobia’ in Europe.