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Owen Smith called on Jeremy Corbyn to repay the £20,000 he made from appearances on Iran's state broadcaster, Press TV.

And he said Mr Corbyn had been "complacent" about homophobic and anti-Semitic abuse within the party.

Mr Corbyn has faced criticism for the Press TV appearances, some of which were as a stand-in for regular host George Galloway, because of Iran's record on human rights.

Press TV is tightly-controlled by the Iranian government and is seen as a propaganda outlet.

It was banned in the UK in 2012, when broadcast regulator Ofcom found it had repeatedly breached the broadcasting code.

But the Labour leader defended the gig during an interview with Pink News on Wednesday.

(Image: Jeff J Mitchell)

He said: "I did some programmes for Press TV quite a long time ago.

"I refused to do any more because there was a change in the process they were operating.

"I presented other programmes in which I was able to raise a number of human rights issues, not just in Iran but other countries as well – and the money I was paid, which wasn’t an enormous amount actually, went into my constituency office."

The Electoral Commission has no record of any donations from Mr Corbyn to his local Labour party.

The Mirror has also been unable to find any evidence of Mr Corbyn raising issues of human rights in Iran during his appearances on Press TV, although the full archive of his appearances is not available online.

A spokesperson for Jeremy Corbyn said: "Jeremy put the payments from Press TV towards his constituency office.

"His involvement with Press TV allowed him to deplore all human rights abuses, which he has consistently raised with Iran, including on a visit to Tehran with Jack Straw in 2015.

"He also met Iran's foreign minister with Hilary Benn where once again human rights issues were raised.

"Jeremy's involvement with Press TV ended when changes to the way they were operating meant he could not participate without political interference."

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In an interview with Pink News on Wednesday, Mr Smith said: "I wouldn't have done it [appear on Press TV]. I don't think Jeremy has done enough to justify that, to be perfectly honest."

He added: "He could always give the money back, couldn't he?"

Mr Smith went on to criticise Mr Corbyn for being "complacent" over homophobic and anti-Semitic abuse within the Labour Party.

He said: "I think Jeremy's response to the charge that people have been abused, women in the party, Angela for her sexuality has been quite often to say ‘well I’ve been abused too, the best thing to do is to ignore it.’

He disagreed that "ignoring it" was the best thing to do, and called for a "zero tolerance" approach to abuse.

Mr Corbyn this week called for sanctions against anyone engaging in homophobic abuse within the party.

The Labour leader acknowledged that Angela Eagle had been the victim of "absolutely and totally wrong" attacks over her sexuality, which he condemned.

(Image: Sky News)

He added: "If anyone is acting in a homophobic way in the Labour Party , they are wrong and they will have no support whatsoever from me in doing that. I absolutely condemn it.

"They should be investigated for their behaviour and if they are found to have committed homophobic acts or made homophobic remarks, there are sanctions open to the National Executive to take."