Sacked by Al Jazeera for being 'white, Christian, British female', says exec

A British woman appointed to head up planning at Al Jazeera has told an employment tribunal that the Arabic station sacked her because she was a "white, Christian, British female".

Jo Burgin was the most senior woman to work at the station in Doha, Qatar, before her dismissal in April last year. She is suing her former employees for £1million compensation, claiming race, sex and religious discrimination, according to The Daily Mail.

The newspaper quoted her as saying in the central London tribunal that her Arab bosses had "publicly humiliated" her and sacked her for being a "white, Christian, British female".

Miss Burgin, who formerly worked as an executive at ITN and Sky News, alleged that Al Jazeera's deputy managing director, Ibrahim Helal "harboured anti-Western sentiment", could not relate to women and rolled his eyes whenever she spoke, according to The Daily Mail.

She also accused Helal of talking over her during meetings and showing bias towards senior male colleagues.

"It left me publicly humiliated, deeply hurt and professionally smeared," she told the tribunal.

Miss Burgin claimed that Al Jazeera tolerated Muslims couples working together but objected to her relationship with director of news, Steve Clark, whom she went on to marry.

She said she had been led to believe her working conditions would rival the BBC or CNN but found the management to be "inefficient, inconsistent and malicious". According to Miss Burgin, the human resources director at Al Jazeera admitted to being "told to get rid of me".

Miss Burgin is able to sue in the UK as her contract is with Al Jazeera's UK arm.