Reporters Without Borders: Islamic Republic Takes Journalists’ Families Hostage

Reporters Without Borders condemned the detention of family members and relatives of journalist Masih Alinejad and declared that the Islamic Republic of Iran is taking journalists’ families hostage.

In a statement by Reporters Without Borders released on Thursday, September 2, with reference to details of the detention of Ali Alinejad, brother of Masih Alinejad on September 4 of this year, it stated that according to the journalist, “taking family members hostage to silence [them]” is occurring.

Ms. Alinejad, founder of the “White Wednesdays” campaign, had previously reported to Voice of America on April 12, 2019 that her mother was summoned by security police and told she must account for “telephone contact with people outside the country.”

According to this report, “a number of families of political prisoners and journalists are under pressure from the judicial-security authorities of the Islamic Republic. Some family members of imprisoned journalists have also been detained to publicize the prisoner’s condition.”

Regarding these detentions, one can point to Frangis Mazloom, mother of imprisoned photographer and citizen journalist Soheil Arabi, 2017 Citizen Journalist Award winner, and Shahrzad Jafari, sister of Noshin Jafari, former editor of the art and literature pages of Etemaad newspaper.

Reporters Without Borders wrote that Shahrzad Jafari was released three days later according to her lawyer. However, no official news has been released about these prisoners thus far.

The report also states that “the suppression of freedom of information has not been limited to Iran’s borders. The regime has always been concerned with polishing its image in the world, and thus global media have also been victims of suppression and censorship,” and Reporters Without Borders “has counted at least 25 threats against journalists and their families both inside and outside the country over the past year.”

The report adds that the Islamic Republic of Iran has used charges of “espionage” and “cooperation with [hostile] countries” to arrest and convict many journalists, particularly journalists working with American media. This is while the Foreign Ministry of the Islamic Republic of Iran and the Supreme Court have formally announced that Iran is not in conflict with any country.

The Islamic Republic of Iran ranks 170th out of 180 countries in the 2019 Reporters Without Borders World Press Freedom Index.

International organizations have repeatedly deemed the Islamic Republic of Iran a violator of freedom of speech and a restrictor of media.

Previously, the U.S. State Department published content titled “40 Years of Unfulfilled Promises” by the Islamic Republic on its Persian Twitter account and wrote about corruption, lack of freedom of speech, lack of justice, and unfulfilled economic promises by Islamic Republic authorities.

The U.S. State Department wrote in these tweets that “forty years ago, Ayatollah Khomeini promised freedom of speech and freedom of the press. Today, Iran has one of the most repressed media spaces. The ruling regime has only brought forty years of failure.”

Source: Voice of America