In another blow to freedom of speech, Spain has taken Iran’s Spanish-language channel Hispan TV off the air.
The Spanish government has ordered Madrid’s regional government to stop Hispan TV’s broadcast as of Monday.
Meanwhile, Spain’s third biggest party, the United Left, has reacted to the move, demanding in an official letter an explanation from Madrid on taking Iran’s Hispan TV and Press TV channels off Hispasat earlier this month.
This is not the first time that Iran’s media are being targeted.
Hispan TV, along with Iran’s 24-hour English-language news channel Press TV, have been already targeted by Hispasat’s fellow European satellite providers Eutelsat and Hotbird.
The ban on Press TV and Hispan TV in Spain followed a similar move by France’s Eutelsat company, which had already taken several Iranian satellite channels and radio stations off the air, claiming that the channels were removed because of “a wider interpretation of EU regulations.”
Hispasat is partly owned by Eutelsat, whose French-Israeli CEO is blamed for the recent wave of attacks on Iranian media in Europe.
Eutelsat SA and Intelsat SA, which stopped the broadcast of several Iranian satellite channels in October, 2012, have cited pressure by the European Union as the main reason.
The EU has, however, denied the claims by the European satellite companies.
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