A community radio station has had its licence revoked after broadcasting 25 hours of lectures by an alleged senior al-Qaida figure.
Iman FM, which is based in Sheffield and has been broadcasting since October 2014, put a series of readings by radical US cleric Anwar al-Awlaki (pictured) on the air during Ramadan.
Ofcom suspended the station’s licence on July 4 and revoked it yesterday.
Imam FM claimed that it was not aware of the background of al-Awlaki, who was killed in a US drone strike in Yemen in 2011.
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But Ofcom said Iman FM was “unfit” to hold a licence after displaying “extremely reckless” conduct.
The station had broadcast “material likely to encourage or incite the commission of crime or to lead to disorder”, the regulator said.
It added that the lectures included “a direct call to action to members of the Muslim community to prepare for and carry out violent action against non-Muslim people”, and “statements clearly condoning and encouraging acts of crime, terrorism or violent behaviour”.
The service has been off-air since its licence was suspended and would not be reinstated, Ofcom said.
Picture: Reuters/Intelwire.com
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