Peace TV

Peace TV was launched on Arabsat on satellite BADR-3 in October 2006.

It is also available free of charge from the LiveStation satellite television computerdiesh.[11]

The channel received £1.25 million in 2009 from the Islamic Research Foundation International, a registered charity owned by Zakir Naik.[1]

In 2011 the UK broadcasting regulator Ofcom investigated the channel for allegations of broadcasting extremist messages. Its programmes have labelled 9/11 terrorist attacks as an inside job.[1]

In 2012, Ofcom ruled the channel broke broadcasting rules which states offensive comments should be justified by the context. It was ruled on the following statements which were broadcast on 8 March 2012 on the Dare to Ask programme:[12]

One group of scholars, they say that if a Muslim, if he becomes a non-Muslim [inaudible] he should be put to death. There is another group of scholars who say that if a Muslim becomes a non-Muslim and propagates his new faith against Islam then he should be put to death.

I tend to agree more with the second group of scholars, who say that a Muslim, if he becomes a non-Muslim and propagates his new faith against Islam, that is the time this penalty is applied.

In response, PeaceTV said they were just repeating the teachings of the Quran.[12] The channel has been operating in India since 2006, but as of 2009 it failed to register with India's Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, making it illegal. Hathway stopped broadcasting the channel. Zakir Naik denies owning the station, and claims it is run by a Dubai-based company.[13] Peace TV was banned in India in 2012, because the government said it was broadcasting malicious anti-Indian content.[14] Zakir Naik has denied any links to such claims and hopes that the ban would be lifted.[15] However, as of August 2019, Peace TV was still available in India through a free app in the Google Play Store, which had been downloaded over a lakh (100,000) times.[16]

[17] In Bangladesh, there has been a massive debate to stop airing this channel after the Dhaka terror attack.[18][19] The channel has been banned by the Government of Bangladesh after a consultation with its internal security agencies on 10 July 2016.

After the Easter Sunday attacks in Sri Lanka on April 2019, which killed at least 250 people, the ensuing investigation on Islamic extremism forced the Sri Lankan cable TV operators to remove Peace TV.[20]

In January 2013, Peace TV was nominated for the Responsible Media of the Year award at the British Muslim Awards.[21]

A major controversy erupted after the Dhaka terror attack in July 2016 when the investigations revealed that a terrorist involved in the brutal killings followed Zakir Naik's page on Facebook and was influenced by Naik's speeches[22] which seemed to be provocative in nature.[23][24] The terrorist had posted sermons of Naik on social media where Naik has urged "all Muslims to be terrorists" saying "if he is terrorizing a terrorist, he is following Islam".[25]

Following this incident, the channel was banned in Bangladesh.[26] Hasanul Haq Inu, the Information Minister of Bangladesh reasoned that "Peace TV is not consistent with Muslim society, the Quran, Sunnah, Hadith, Bangladesh's Constitution, our culture, customs and rituals."[27][28]

In March 2018, during a show called Strengthening Your Family, The Valley of the Homosexuals, presenter Imam Qasim Khan said that homosexuality was "a very unnatural type of love that is energised by the influence of [Satan]" and called AIDS "a disease [that gay men] contracted because they are homosexual". Khan went on to say, "Even an animal that is defiled by Islam, the pig – as nasty and corrupted and contaminated as a pig is – you never see two male pigs that are trying to have sex together. That's insanity… worse than animals."[29]

In July 2019, Ofcom ruled that three of Peace TV's programmes, including Khan's aforementioned broadcast, breached its rules on hate speech, offence, abusive treatment and incitement to crime. In a statement, the regulator said: "Ofcom considered the breaches in this case to be serious. We are putting the Licensee on notice that we will consider these breaches for the imposition of a statutory sanction."[30] Lord Production, which owns Peace TV's broadcast licence, defended the broadcast, claiming that it did not breach Ofcom's rules. The company claimed that Khan merely offered "a robust stand against homosexuality, but very much from a religious standpoint."[30] It disagreed with Ofcom’s suggestion that Imam Khan’s views constituted hate speech arguing that he did not “call for violence or punishment of homosexuals” and that his aim was to "outlaw the practice of homosexuality itself".[29]

Broadcasting restrictions on Peace TV

Country	Status	Date	Notes
India	Banned	December 2012	Allegedly broadcasting anti-India programmes 'not conducive to the security environment in the country'.[31]
Bangladesh	Banned	July 2016	Alleged promotion of terrorism (after July 2016 Dhaka attack)[26]
Sri Lanka	Banned	May 2019	Alleged promotion of terrorism (after 2019 Sri Lanka Easter bombings)[9]
United Kingdom	Banned	May 2020	Breached broadcasting regulations on inciting crime, hate speech, abuse and offence[10]

• From India[32]
  • Zakir Naik
  • Mohammed Naik
  • Faiz-ur-Rahman
  • Abdul Karim Parekh
  • Sanaullah Madani
  • Shamim Fauzi
  • Abdul Basit Madani
• From the United States
  • Yusuf Estes
  • Yasir Qadhi
  • Yassir Fazaga
  • Ammar Amonette
  • Abdullah Hakim Quick
• From Canada
  • Bilal Philips
  • Jamal Badawi
  • Said Rageah
• Others
  • Abdur Raheem Green
  • Hussein Ye
  • Israr Ahmed
  • Areeb Islam
  • Jafar Idris
  • Salem Al Amry

• 
  Previous logo (2006-2015)
• 
  New logo (2015–present)

• Official website
• Live Streams in English, Urdu & Bangla languages