Viewers and listeners bombard BBC Director General over broadcasters links to G4S

Over 2000 BBC viewers and listeners have contacted the BBC to urge it not to award G4S with a security contract worth £80 million.

G4S services Israeli prisons to which Palestinian prisoners are illegally transferred in serious violation of the Fourth Geneva Convention and also, in the case of child prisoners, the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child. There is credible evidence that Palestinian prisoners – including children – are routinely subjected to violence and torture at G4S serviced prisons in Israel and Palestine.

Sarah Colborne, Director of the Palestine Solidarity Campaign, said: ‘G4S is well aware of the controversy that surrounds its involvement in Israeli prisons. Shareholders at G4S’ last AGM ensured that the CEO and board were aware that the torture of children is ‘absolutely prohibited’ under international law and yet is documented as taking place at Al Jalame prison in Israel. For the BBC to associate itself with such a company would be deeply damaging to the BBC’s reputation. BBC viewers and listeners are telling Tony Hall, the BBC’s Director General, not to allow the money they pay in licence fees to be used in this way.’