An Islamic radio station in the UK, which has been fined for an antisemitic broadcast, has accused the British communications regulator OFCOM of Islamophobia and of being a “Zionist puppet.”
OFCOM announced last week that it has imposed a penalty of £3,500 on the Markaz-Al-Huda charitable organization after it concluded that its radio station – Salaam BCR radio – breached the Broadcasting Code.
Salaam BCR was a community radio station broadcasting entertainment, religious, and current affairs programming to the Muslim community of Bury in Urdu, English, and Arabic.
On October 17, 2023, it broadcast a 38-minute speech by Pakistani Islamic scholar Shujauddin Sheikh in which he called Jews “the biggest enemies of humanity,” and said that the history of Jews is “from killing prophets to only protecting their own interests, to instigating war, to instigating war and then lending money with interest and strengthening their economy.”
On October 21, 2024, OFCOM announced its breach decision that the statements of the program amounted to “antisemitic hate speech and derogatory and abusive treatment of Jewish people.” It took into account both its own definition of hate speech as well as the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance's definition of antisemitism.
In response to the decision, Markaz-Al-Huda said Sheikh was “a credible speaker from a well-respected organization in the Muslim world” and that “no content [included in the program], in our humble opinion, was considered inciting hatred to any section of the community.”
Markaz-Al-Huda called it “a malicious attempt... to cause harm to our community efforts and our community radio.”
OFCOM also received a comment from Tanzeem-e-Islami, the organization led by the program’s speaker, who said his broadcast should “be distinguished from hate speech” as it was a “critical examination of Zionism... and the policies associated with it, and the beliefs of the adherents of Zionism, particularly in the context of the State of Israel” and was not about the Jewish community.
Markaz-Al-Huda asked OFCOM to reveal who complained about the original broadcast
On May 22, 2025, Markaz-Al-Huda asked OFCOM to reveal the identity of the person who complained about the original broadcast, saying, “There’s no malice, just [the] desire to know how a Zionist sympathizer understood Urdu and called the content antisemitic.”
When OFCOM refused, it said, “You hide behind data protection to hide your snitches... We have a right to know who and how we have offended.”
Markaz-Al-Huda stated it would “reject” and “contest any decision that OFCOM proposes” and called it a “puppet instrument heavily run and supportive of a Zionist agenda, which makes [it] a discriminative and Islamophobic organization.”
OFCOM subsequently announced last week that it has imposed a £3,500 penalty, to be paid by Markaz-Al-Huda Limited to HM Paymaster General.
Markaz-Al-Huda Limited surrendered its community radio license on October 1, 2024, and ceased linear broadcasting. It is, however, now under investigation by the Charity Commission over its remarks after it was reported by the National Secular Society.
However, the debacle has raised concerns about how the government’s plan to introduce a new Islamophobia definition may protect extremists.
“The Markaz Al-Huda’s response demonstrates precisely why we cannot have a [new] definition of ‘Islamophobia’ at this time,” Fiyaz Mughal, founder of Tell Mama, a project that records anti-Muslim incidents, said, according to The Times.
“Institutions like this can abuse any well-meaning definition to suit their needs and, in doing so, play to toxic grievances and perceptions of ‘us and them.’ We don’t need any further divisions in our society.”