Mesopotamia Broadcast Company suspended for two months

26 September 2012 –Danish Radio and Television Board ruled the suspension of broadcast for two months
Danish Radio and Television Board ruled the suspension of brodcast of Mesopotamia Broadcast Company for two months as of 24:00 on 3 October 2012.
The broadcast of the company’s four channels Roj TV, Nuçe TV, MMC and Mesopotamia TV will continue in the usual stream two months later.

The Board said the suspension wasn’t ruled on the grounds of “promotion of violence” on Nuçe TV news bulletins but on the grounds that the company “shirks the duty of recording and saving broadcast programs” and thus “constitutes an obstacle to the Board’s supervision responsibility”.

With an unlawful verdict on 19 January, French satellite company Eutelsat unilaterally suspended the presence of RojTV on its satellites in order to avoid incurring criminal liability as an accomplice to terrorist activities. The decision came after the Copenhagen City Court on 14 December 2011 charged the Kurdish channel with making propaganda for the PKK (Kurdistan Workers’ Party). Although the Danish court did not rule for the closure of the RojTV, the Kurdish satellite channel was closed on 22 January.

Following Eutelsat decision, the Kurdish television therewith signed an agreement with Intelsat on 26 January. Roj TV broadcasts continued on Intelsat 1 W over Greece until the American state just one day later applied pressure on the Greek government and had the broadcasts suspended once again.

Danske Bank which has worked with Roj TV for long years decided on February 1st to withhold Roj TV accounts.