Ahmadinejad show 'causes offence'

Channel 4 U.K. news broadcast with Dr Mahmoud Ahmadinejad,President of Iran giving a short message of hope and prosperity for Christmas.

BBC News:

Allowing Iran's president to deliver Channel 4's Alternative Christmas Message will cause "international offence", the UK government has said.

President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was shown telling viewers of the British TV channel "the general will of nations" was for a return to "human values".

The decision angered some MPs, who branded him a "dangerous fanatic" with anti-Semitic and anti-gay views.

Channel 4 said it had offered viewers an "alternative world view".

The speech, in Farsi with English subtitles, was the channel's 16th alternative message and was shown after a brief introduction to Mr Ahmadinejad contextualising his views.

In it, Mr Ahmadinejad congratulated the people of Britain on the anniversary of the birth of Jesus Christ.

He said that problems in society were rooted in the rejection of the message of the prophets of God, including Jesus.

And he criticised the "indifference of some governments and powers" towards the teachings of "the divine prophets".[more]