BBC apologises for Stacey Dooley’s Muslim prayer ‘ISIS salute’ comment in Panorama

Strictly champ Stacey Dooley is set to front a BBC documentary tonight, in which she visits northern Syria.

The 32-year-old speaks to women who left their own countries to go and join ISIS.

During one scene, Stacey can be heard saying that as she and her crew left the al-Hawl refugee camp, they “saw women raising their index fingers in an IS salute”.

However, the salute is used as a symbol of Tawhid – the belief in the oneness of God.

“We apologise for this error and have removed this description from the footage”

BBC

It has been picked up by ISIS supporters, but Stacey’s comment has been labelled “ignorant”.

Now, the BBC has come forward with a spokesman saying: “We wrongly described a gesture made by women filmed in a Kurdish controlled detention camp in Northern Syria as an ‘IS salute’.

“While IS have attempted to adopt this for their own propaganda purposes, for accuracy we should have been clear that many people of Muslim faith use this gesture to signify the oneness of Allah.

“We apologise for this error and have removed this description from the footage.”

Previously, monitoring group Tell Mama tweeted: “Tawhid (Tawheed) is the defining doctrine of Islam, demonstrating the oneness of Allah (God). To reduce such a fundamental and important concept to a mere ‘IS salute’ is grossly wrong, ignorant, and damaging.

“This again demonstrates the importance of having Muslim representation in media, and more broadly, improving religious literacy.”

The al-Hawl refugee camp is where ISIS bride Shamima Begum, 19, was discovered by a Brit journalist.

The BBC have now removed the clip from a teaser video of the episode and from yesterday’s News At Ten on iPlayer.

And Stacey has spoken out about British ISIS fighters, speculating that they may be “struggling with identity”.

Speaking on Eddie Hearn’s BBC Radio 5 Life podcast, she said: “There are now situations where our countries are hesitant to take any of these people back and I understand why people are hesitant because we don’t know what to do with them and if they are a threat, how do we deal with that?”

The show – Stacey Meets the IS Brides – airs tonight at 8.30pm on BBC One.

• BBC
• ISIS

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