BBC has issued a statement expressing “serious concern over the harassment and intimidation of BBC Persian journalists and their families,” calling on Iranian authorities to “immediately cease this campaign of intimidation and stop threatening, harassing, and psychologically tormenting journalists.”
In a section of the statement published on the BBC Persian website, it is stated: “In recent months, the harassment and intimidation of BBC Persian journalists in the UK and their families in Iran have escalated alarmingly. This intimidation campaign, organized by Iranian authorities, has become increasingly widespread and severe.”
According to the BBC’s statement, “BBC Persian journalists, alongside other Iranian journalists residing in Britain and around the world, are facing serious cross-border threats from Iranian officials. These threats continuously extend to their families in Iran, who are also targeted by ongoing campaigns of intimidation and threats. However, BBC is now witnessing an increase in arbitrary interrogations, exit bans, passport confiscations, and threats to seize assets, indicating a concerning intensification of this trend.”
This is not the first time that Iranian journalists abroad and their families have been targeted by the Islamic Republic. In numerous incidents, journalists working for various Persian-language media have been threatened, subjected to assassination plots, or attacked with knives. A previous report by the UN Human Rights Council’s Independent Fact-Finding Committee, in paragraph 84 of its initial report, acknowledged the expansion of repression against media and journalists outside Iran, confirming that the Islamic Republic has targeted “journalists and other media workers operating abroad, including those working for BBC Persian, Iran International, Voice of America, IranWire, and Deutsche Welle, with harassment, threats, and intimidation.”
Defending Free Flow of Information Organization (DeFFI) considers any physical or psychological violence against journalists as an attack on freedom of expression and a violation of citizens’ right to access information freely. Expressing deep concern over the recurrence of threats against Iran International journalists and other Persian-language journalists and staff, this organization calls on defending institutions and Western governments to investigate these incidents thoroughly, without political considerations, and to reconsider their policies toward regimes that threaten press freedom, in order to inform the public accurately.