United Kingdom (UK) based media watchdog Ofcom has slapped radical Islamic preacher Zakir Naik's Peace TV network with a fine of 3,00,000 pounds for broadcasting hate speech and what it calls, "highly offensive" content in the nation, reports Economic Times.
Lambasting Naik's media network, Ofcom has asserted, "Our investigations found that programmes broadcast on Peace TV Urdu and Peace TV contained hate speech and highly offensive content, which in one instance was likely to incite crime."
The London based media regulator added that the content broadcasted on these channels represented serious failures of compliance with the UK's broadcasting rules and warranted the issuance of fines against them.
It should be noted that Peace TV is owned by Lord Productions Limited, while Pace TV Urdu’s licence is held by Club TV, both of which have Universal Broadcasting Corporation Limited as their parent company, which is owned by Naik in entirety.
Originally from Mumbai, Naik is a wanted man in India for money laundering and inciting extremism through his speeches, and is presently living in Malaysia where he has been granted a permanent residency. India had just last week made a formal request for his extradition.
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