Iranian channel launched

LONDON - Agence France-Presse

A businessman opposed to the Iranian regime launched a new television channel in London on Oct 25 aimed at “promoting democracy and freedom” in the Middle Eastern state.

At a press conference in the British capital, the channel’s director and editor-in-chief Ali Asghar Ramezanpoor said “Raha” would be the “first independent channel that belongs to Iranian people.

“There are channels in Persian -- like BBC or Voice of America -- but they are from others countries, not Iranian people,” added Ramezanpoor, a former deputy minister in the Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance.

The channel is funded by Amir Hossein Jahashahi, founder of opposition movement Green Wave. He outlined how the channel would challenge the regime of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. “Raha TV is the TV for change because this regime is immoral, inhuman and unreasonable,” he said, adding that transition had to come “from inside, by Iranian people”.

The businessman also praised Al-Jazeera and Al-Arabiya for doing “a really big job to help the Arab people” during the uprisings sweeping the Middle East.