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THE BBC HAS delayed the broadcast of a Panorama ‘exposé’ of the Sun on Sunday’s ‘Fake Sheikh’ Mazher Mahmood after a last minute legal intervention.
The controversial journalist previously worked for the News of the World and became well known for sting operations whilst disguised as a sheikh. The operations attempted to catch often high profile people engaged in wrongdoing.
BBC’s Panorama show has made a report about Mahmood called “Fake Sheikh: Exposed” that was intended to be broadcast last night after the BBC won two separate court appeals.
But the broadcaster said last night that it is to delay the report after Mahmood’s lawyers submitted “new information relating the one of the cases in the programme”.
BBC says that “as a responsible broadcaster, the BBC needs to evaluate” the information.
When this is completed, Panorama says that they will broadcast the programme which includes recent footage of Mahmood.
The journalist has been attempting to block the broadcast of the show and particularly recent images of himself.
BBC News Press Team / Twitter.@BBCPanorama programme 'The Fake Sheikh: Exposed' postponed tonight - here's the full statement. pic.twitter.com/rZ1eBMPp5Y
— BBC News Press Team (@BBCNewsPR) November 10, 2014
Mahmood was suspended from his position following the collapse of the trial of former X-Factor judge Tulisa Contostavlos who was targeted by the ‘Fake Sheikh’.
During the trial of Contostavlos for allegedly attempting to procure cocaine for Mahmood, the judge said that the case “cannot go any further” because there were “strong grounds to believe” Mahmood had “lied” at a hearing before the trial started.
Following the collapse of her trial, Contostavlos called on police to investigate the “horrific and disgusting entrapment” by the reporter.
Mahmood has defended his methods saying that they have led to numerous criminal prosecutions. These include a story on cricket-spot fixing in 2011 led that to the convictions of three Pakistan players for their involvement in a betting scam.
Additional reporting by © – AFP 2014
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Tulisa really puts me you in a moral dilemma. She’s seriously hot but such a chav.
I have a similar moral dilemma with you Innitalitarian. You’re seriously hot, but you use the word ‘chav’.
The Tulisa drugs trial was stopped in July when British Judge Alistair McCreath accused Sun newspaper journalist Mazher Mahmood of attempting to persuade a witness to change his testimony and then lying about it under oath.
Its’s not the first time. Mahmood has form, and plenty of it.
Mahmood’s former editor at News International’s defunct News Of The World newspaper Andy Coulson is currently serving a jail sentence for hacking into phones of members of the public.
This is a desperate rearguard action to defend the indefensible.
I hope the BBC shows him up for what he is, an immoral, scurrilous individual who will stop at nothing to feather his own nest, while readily destroying peoples lives without a second thought.
They destroy their own lives. Everyone is responsible for their own actions.
He obviously exposes what they do. And he is underhand in the way he does it.
But is he forcing them to do the things they do?
He doesnt seem to like his methods being exposed which is ironic
Ian,
In cases in the past we’ve seen where these “stings” have been orchestrated in intimidating environments to pressure people into going down a path. Maybe they were already at that kind of business, maybe they only agreed to the arrangement just to get out of the room when they found themselves in a scary position.
If you’re a journalist worth your salt, you should be able to investigate a story and garner enough evidence to make that story if the crime exists. Creating the crime yourself is an extremely different situation.
Lets say you’re a carpenter, some chap offers you 10K for what’s normally a 5 grand job. You accept the fee – he pitched it at the value he thought it was worth – you didn’t coerce him or anything. Now tomorrow I see a picture of you in the paper and find you’re apparently charging some poor granny 10K for a small job – you’re part of an expose on corrupt carpenters. Now you’ve never met this granny, maybe you met who you thought was her son. Either way, if that’s a story and it’s published, I’m entitled to think you’re the kind of person that robs grannies, right?
Why do people buy that crap? Leave people alone. What a load of rubbish.
And other such stuff.
Ex news of the world doesn’t lend much to his credibility.
Shouldn’t be let near a courtroom this guy.
Entrapment plastered all over the tulisa and George Calloway cases.
Murdochs papers are like the evil empire in a frickin Bond movie.
Dirty tricks, done dirt cheap!
This is the second time the Panorama show regarding the Fake Sheikh has been cancelled in recent weeks!
Oh nooooooo! They’re after me. Hope they catch that “Yerbouti” character instead!
Their fake sheikh brings all the boys from the bar…
Responsible broadcaster? Only since jimmy died
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