| Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, President of Iran delivered the message in Persian with English subtitles. Ahmedinejad said that "if Christ were on earth today, undoubtedly he would stand with the people in opposition to bullying, ill-tempered and expansionist powers". The message was considered controversial and received much criticism both before and after its broadcast. Much of the criticism was centred on Ahmadinejad's antisemitic and homophobic views. However, the message itself was not regarded as inflammatory and did not make any reference to these two issues. Human rights campaigner Peter Tatchell called Ahmadinejad a "criminal despot, who ranks with Robert Mugabe, Omar al-Bashir of Sudan and the Burmese military junta as one of the world's most bloody tyrants". The broadcast resulted in almost 300 complaints to the media regulator, Ofcom, but it ruled that there was no breach of the Broadcasting Code. |
