Ken Livingstone under fire for earning thousands from Iranian TV role

Ken Livingstone under fire for earning thousands from Iranian TV role

Peter Dominiczak
20 Jan 2011 

Ken Livingstone was today accused of showing “a lack of judgment” after it emerged he has been paid thousands of pounds to front a programme on Iranian state television.

He has presented seven shows on the English-language Press TV channel, three of which have been broadcast since he became Labour's Londonmayoral candidate in September.

The government-funded international news network was launched by Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in 2007 and is run by the Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting.

The broadcaster was investigated last year by Ofcom after interviewing a jailedNewsweek journalist who was allegedly under extreme duress at the time in an interrogation room.

Mr Livingstone's appearances, reviewing books on the channel, put him at odds with senior Labour figures including party leader Ed Miliband, who called last month for the release of an Iranian woman sentenced to death by stoning after her alleged confession to her part in her husband's murder was shown on Press TV.

Human rights campaigners condemned the channel after its report on Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani. In a report on its website, Press TV said she had accompanied a film crew to her house “to recount details of the killing of her husband at the crime scene”. Activists, however, claim her apparent confession was coerced.

The criticism of Mr Livingstone follows calls for his expulsion from Labour in October, after he campaigned openly alongside Tower Hamlets mayor Lutfur Rahman, who had been deselected by the party over alleged links to extremism.

Mr Livingstone first appeared on Press TV in March 2009, standing in for formerRespect MP George Galloway. Previous presenters on the channel have been paid about £500 per show. Books reviewed on his

Epilogue programme include Zionist Israel And Apartheid South Africa, The Invention Of The Jewish People, and Israel And The Clash Of Civilizations: Iraq, Iran And The Plan To Remake The Middle East.

Conservative MP for Chelsea and Fulham, Greg Hands, said: “This shows a lack of judgment on the part of Ken Livingstone, to be working for Iranian state television at a time when press and other democratic freedoms in Iran have been completely destroyed by the regime there, and at a time when Londoners will want to know if he will ever return to the political mainstream.”

Alan Aziz, from the Zionist Federation UK, said it was a “disgrace” that Mr Livingstone had appeared on the channel. He added: “Press TV is the English language propaganda arm of the Iranian regime and if Livingstone aims to be the mayor of one of the most multicultural cities in the world that is populated by members of all faiths and sexualities, he should examine carefully the company that he keeps.”

A spokesman for Mr Livingstone said: “A wide range of people of different backgrounds in politics, academia and other walks of life have appeared on the channel and this is an occasional book review.”