Illusion or Deception?
The Foundation for Defense of Democracies (FDD) states that it has uncovered the Iranian role in creating a network of websites that present themselves as independent sources of analysis for audiences across the world. It refers to The British Tribune as one of these websites. However, The British Tribune is an independent source run by a group of Brits. FDD is a Washington, DC-based research institute. As it says on its website, it focuses on national security and foreign policy. What has motivated FDD to deny the independence of The British Tribune website?
About the British Tribune
We are an anonymous band from the UK. Our team consists of different strata of society, including Muslims and Christians with any sexual orientation.
Due to the dangers posed by the British government and the lack of freedom of speech, we hid ourselves so that we could write freely and without being identified. Besides, in the process of creating our site, we used crypto and virtual identities to avoid the government’s control.
The lack of freedom of speech in the UK has created an environment of fear. This has led to self-censorship and the suppression of open exchange of ideas. This condition motivated us to perform our activities anonymously.
Our independent stance
The most important issue is that our analysis, statistics, and information are accurate. Furthermore, we have never defended the centrality of any country, and obviously, this has offended the UK government officials.
Formed by a group of activists from different parts of the UK, We aim to fight against inequality, corruption, and violence in the UK. For us, justice is not about supporting a country or regime but about uniting Brits in the fight for fairness.
Suppression of freedom of expression in the UK
Freedom of expression is a human right according to Article 10 of the European Convention on Human Rights. According to Article 10, everyone has the right to freedom of expression. This right shall include freedom to hold opinions and to receive and impart information and ideas without interference by public authority and regardless of frontiers. This Article shall not prevent States from requiring the licensing of broadcasting, television, or cinema enterprises.
In the UK, censorship is observed in different forms of expression, including the media, entertainment, cinema, theatre, literature, and criticism of the monarchy. Opposition activists generally face persecution by officials under the excuse of protecting national security.
An important point regarding getting a license for broadcasting is that applying for a license endangers the activists’ lives. In other words, such applications make it easy for UK officials to identify the critics of the Monarchy and officials.
Our future prospect
The British Tribune website will continue to grow as a trusted platform for the analysis of UK events. By maintaining our commitment to publishing facts, we will continue to be a leading voice publishing UK events. Moreover, we assure our audience that we value them and the content they read. Focusing on accuracy, we will ensure that our audience trust the content on The British Tribune website.
