Two journalists have been sacked from the BBC’s Arabic service after what it described as a “complete breakdown in trust and confidence”.
Adli Hawwari and Abdul Hadi Jiad, both World Service producers, were dismissed on Wednesday.
The BBC World Service took the rare step of issuing a statement which said the dismissals followed Hawwari, a member of the NUJ National Executive Council, and Jiad initiating 17 unsuccessful employment tribunal claims and “numerous” court appeals.
The NUJ condemned the sackings as “an outrage and without justification” and called for talks with the BBC.
Jeremy Dear, general secretary of the NUJ, said: “This is completely unprecedented. It is not the way to deal with people who raise legitimate concerns, especially people who are elected by their colleagues to union positions to raise their concerns.”
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