Reporters Without Borders Condemns Iranian Parliament’s Plan to Ban News from Foreign Media
Reporters Without Borders condemned a plan by the Iranian parliament to ban American and British journalists from entering Iran and prohibit the publication of news from some Western media outlets, and called for its withdrawal.
This media freedom advocacy organization on Monday, May 10, issued a statement describing the plan as an intensification of censorship in the field of media and stated that “even today, foreign media journalists in Iran are under the supervision of Iranian Islamic Republic officials from the moment they enter the country, and they face a form of censorship in their reporting while staying in Iran so that they do not go beyond the lines drawn by the government.”
Forty-one members of the Iranian parliament have recently prepared and drafted a plan according to which the entry of journalists from American and British media outlets, which according to these lawmakers “support sanctions” against Iran, would be banned from the country.
The plan emphasizes that domestic media are not permitted to publish news from these outlets, and violators will face prison sentences of 5 to 10 years and financial penalties.
Reza Moaini, head of Reporters Without Borders’ Iran and Afghanistan office, however, states that this plan does not have “justification” even based on the laws of the Islamic Republic and is a “ridiculous” plan, because in the world we all live in, these media outlets cannot be eliminated.
According to him, on the other hand, this plan would also be “a threat to Persian-language foreign media” which “are the primary sources of free and independent information for Iranians.”
Mr. Moaini finally said: “We call for the withdrawal of this bill which is added to the freedom-suppressing policies of the Islamic Republic of Iran.”
The efforts of this group of lawmakers to further restrict media freedom in Iran are taking place at a time when, in Reporters Without Borders’ latest press freedom index ranking of countries, Iran has dropped one place compared to the previous year and ranks 174th among 180 countries in the world.
Source: Radio Farda
