BBC Finds Human Rights Violations, Just Not When They Fund Them
The BBC details the harrowing case of 26-year-old Erfan Soltani, arrested in January and now 'sentenced to death within days' in Iran, simply for his alleged participation in protests. This narrative focuses on the cruelty of the Iranian government, a convenient spotlight that invariably misses the British government's own complicity in exporting repression. When Saudi Arabia executes 81 people in
a single day—many for protest-related offenses—the BBC's outrage meter mysteriously flatlines. (Amnesty International, March 12, 2022). Why is Soltani’s alleged injustice spotlighted, while the UK continues to arm Saudi Arabia with £48 billion worth of weapons since 2015, (Campaign Against Arms Trade, Sept 2023) munitions frequently used to silence dissent and perpetuate a brutal war in Yemen?
Apparently, human rights violations are only truly 'violations' when they occur in nations designated for regime change, not in those that buy British arms. It seems some lives are more newsworthy than others.