Open Letter of Complaint about BBC Attitude and Reply
Mr. Michael Grade
BBC Chairman
BBC Complaints,
PO Box 1922,
Glasgow G2 3WT
Dear Sir .
With the increasing degree of public dissatisfaction regarding the BBC performance as honest broker for disseminating News and projecting an unbiased, clear, information base to the whole world and subsequently helping to form the General Opinion, I am afraid to report, as Christian from Middle Eastern origin living in UK that BBC has failed miserably
We as a group of Copt living in UK, find that the BBC failure to report important incidents of Religious Persecution and hardship of Christians and other minorities in the Middle East is astounding.
There is always endless supply of news of infringements on the Elemental Freedoms; in particular the Freedom of Religion which is constantly encroached upon by fanatics or government agencies (Police) in Middle Eastern countries such as Egypt, which goes unreported by BBC disappointing the Christian Copts in UK.
Stark example is the 57y old Sheikh Bahaa El-Akaad, a convert from Islam to Christianity, who has been in police custody since 5th April 2005. Sheikh Bahaa El-Akaad has been accused of “Insulting Islam” by the Egyptian police because of his conversion from Islam to Christianity under the Egyptian Penal Code 98 H which is usually used (abused) to stop Muslims from converting to Christianity in Egypt, in total disregard and careless infringement of Human Rights Laws and Treaties which Egypt is a signatory of.
Sheikh Bahaa El-Akaad health is now ailing in prison, he suffers from high blood pressure and skin conditions, while in prison several of his cellmates spread rumors that he was converting people to Christianity and baptizing them, sparking verbal abuse and at least one severe beating from a fellow prisoner.
http://www.opendoorsuk.org.uk/news/news_archives/001693.php
http://www.compassdirect.org/en/newslongen.php?idelement=4596
Also, cases of kidnapping and assaults of Minor Christian girls at the hands of Muslim Fundamentalists in Egypt, which has been repeated times and times again which receives total neglect, complacency and even complicity of the Egyptian police with unwillingness to persecute the kidnappers but rather protect them which has been reported by Human Rights organisations such as.
http://www.compassdirect.org/en/newslongen.php?idelement=4573
These are only a few examples of what BBC has failed to do.The Copts would like to know why persecution of Christians in the Middle East does not receive coverage and demand equal treatment with other important issues.
The rise of Islamic Fundamentalism took place in the Middle East three decades or more ago, the suffering of the Christians in the Middle East was ignored, now the World started to realize that Islamic Fundamentalism is the greatest threat to Personal and Political Freedom in the 21 centaury.
Is more than three decades not long enough to learn the lesson?
Reply
Thank you for your letter of 16 October regarding BBC coverage of the
Middle East.
I was sorry to read that you feel the coverage of the treatment of
non-Muslims in Islamic countries is lacking. I can assure you there is no
deliberate policy by the BBC to ignore any such stories, and it is our aim
to provide a comprehensive news service for our viewers and listeners.
Please be assured that your comments on this matter have been fully
registered on our daily audience log. This internal document will be made
available to all our production teams and senior BBC management. We
greatly value this feedback as it helps us when making decisions about
future programming and policies.
Thank you for taking the time to write and express your views.
Regards
Kenneth MacEachen
BBC Information