Warning to 7 countries to protect Iranian journalists abroad
Reporters Without Borders has called on seven Western countries to protect Iranian journalists from pressure and threats from the Islamic Republic. The organization noted that the responsibility for protecting journalists residing in these countries lies with them.
Reporters Without Borders (RSF) warned in an open letter addressed to the leaders of the United States and six European countries: "The Islamic Republic is threatening fundamental freedom of information by threatening journalists and media outlets abroad."
The World Press Freedom Organization warned France, England, Germany, the Czech Republic, the Netherlands, Sweden, and the United States, which host independent media outlets or the Persian sections of global networks, that the responsibility to protect Iranian journalists within their borders “lies with you and stems from your adherence to international law.”
The letter states: “While the media inside the country are under unquestionable pressure from the regime and are unable to cover the most important events in the country, including the widespread popular protests, since the first days of the November 2019 protests, threats against journalists from the Persian sections of global networks such as Radio Farda, BBC, Voice of America, Deutsche Welle, Radio France International, Radio Zamaneh, and the private television networks Iran International and Man and You, the online newspapers Kayhan London, and Iran Wire, etc., have increased significantly in response to the global coverage of these events and continue to do so.”
Following the bloody suppression of protest movements in November of this year and the widespread publication of news and reports of these events in cyberspace and foreign media, the Iranian Ministry of Intelligence issued a statement on December 21, calling the activities of the Iran International satellite network and its partners “evidence of cooperation with the enemies of the Islamic Republic in terrorist acts” and wrote that, based on this, “a ban on transactions and the seizure of all assets of its employees and associates within the country” had been issued by the judiciary.
In August 2017, the Director of the BBC World Service, Francesca Unsworth, released a statement revealing that the Islamic Republic had placed 152 current and former employees and colleagues of the Persian section of the media outlet under a "ban on dealings".
Reporters Without Borders, citing these two examples, wrote that the Islamic Republic of Iran wants to destroy the last sources of free and independent information that many Iranians benefit from.
Threats and intimidation of journalists and their relatives
This organization supporting media freedom wrote in a letter to the leaders of seven Western countries: "Many journalists from these media outlets are threatened in various ways. Direct threats, cyber attacks, insults and intimidation on social networks, and even threats of "kidnapping on the streets of London and transfer to Iran." Iranian authorities also harass and pressure the families of these journalists in Iran by summoning and interrogating them by security agencies. And then they transfer this pressure to the journalists by sending emails or on social networks."
Reporters Without Borders continues by citing specific examples of Iranian journalists living abroad who themselves and their family members have faced pressure, threats, and intimidation, noting that the organization has so far recorded more than 200 cases of threats and harassment of Iranian journalists abroad, including 50 death threats.
RSF called on six European countries and the United States to "urgently" condemn the Islamic Republic's "dangerous actions" against media freedom and, while supporting fundamental freedom of information, ensure the "physical and psychological safety of journalists."
Reporters Without Borders has finally called on journalists to report any threats by agents of the Islamic Republic to the authorities and judicial institutions in their place of residence in order to pave the way for legal prosecution, and also calls on media owners and managers to support their colleagues' complaints "despite pressure and without other considerations."
The Islamic Republic has long been one of the world's leading countries in suppressing media freedom and persecuting and harassing journalists and media professionals. Iran ranks 170th out of 180 countries in the 2019 Reporters Without Borders World Press Freedom Index.
Source: DW
