Press TV CEO blasts EU sanctions

Press TV CEO Dr. Mohammad Sarafraz has slammed the illegal sanctions the Council of the European Union has imposed on him.

Following is the text of his letter:

This is to object to the decision of the Council of the European Union mentioned in an unsigned letter attributed to Council President Catherine Ashton to impose sanctions against me.

The Council has stated its basis for imposing these sanctions as being my alleged links and cooperation with what it calls iran’s secret services and prosecutors, which is a completely vague statement and a baseless allegation, as well as the broadcast of “forced confessions” of detainees, specifically Maziar Bahari, for which Ofcom unjustly fined the UK-registered Press TV Ltd GBP 100,000.

It is an internationally recognized principle that if a person gets accused of something, they have the right to be made aware of, and an opportunity to respond to the charges before a ruling is issued. Why has the Council so flagrantly disregarded this very basic principle and announced its illegal decision without previously informing me of any of the baseless accusations that it has leveled against me?

Apart from the fact that the Council has failed to provide any evidence whatsoever to substantiate its claims, it has relied on inaccurate and misleading information to eventually jump to its blind and unfounded conclusion.

Ofcom has never fined Press TV, of which I am the chief executive officer. The fine unjustly imposed by Ofcom was on Press TV Ltd, an independent private UK-registered company, and had nothing to do with Press TV international which is headquartered in Tehran.

Moreover, contrary to the claim of the Council that Ofcom is independent, the office is indeed the very media regulatory tool of the British government, a monarchical regime that has one of the worse human rights records in the world and has at one time or another invaded almost every country on the planet, including its invasion of Iraq in violation of international law that killed a countless number of civilians, many of them women and children.

Ofcom is under the supervision of the British Queen, who also oversees the BBC and even appoints its board. She not only controls the media in the UK, but also has the power to dismantle the entire British parliament and make decisions regarding war and peace.

These facts regarding the British monarchy, which are among the issues covered by Press TV in its broadcast, provoked the ire of the UK’s royal regime which desperately embarked on banning Press TV in Britain and launching the current unprecedented media sanctions campaign against the alternative news channel and its top officials.

Mohammad Sarafraz
Press TV CEO