The May report by the “Defending Free Flow Of Information ” (DeFFI) organization on the suppression of media and journalists in Iran was prepared based on 35 new documented cases by the organization’s researchers and a total of 46 updated press cases, compiled in 58 pages.
The findings of this report were based on DeFFI’s interviews with first-hand sources, reports published in partner media, statements from officials and state media, and statistical analysis of collected data. However, the statistics and events recorded in this report only include data that DeFFI was able to collect, verify, and document. Due to the multi-layered mechanism of suppression in Iran, the actual instances of violations of Iranian citizens’ right to free access to information, and the number of media, journalists, and citizen journalists exposed to suppression by the Islamic Republic of Iran, are likely higher than the recorded statistics and events.
In this report, some documented cases were only reflected as statistics to maintain journalists’ safety and prevent increased security pressure on them. The details of these cases will not be publicly released and will only be shared with some international institutions in the form of human rights reports. Media outlets or human rights organizations requiring the details of these cases for their research and reports can contact DeFFI’s managers via email at info@deffi.org.
In May, Iranian journalists and media experienced one of the broadest judicial and security crackdowns for the second consecutive month since the beginning of 2024; targeted and organized suppressions that had a meaningful connection to political and social events in Iran.
The publication of a new narrative by BBC World about the death of “Nika Shakarami” during the 2022 protests, the continuation of new judicial and security crackdowns on women opposing mandatory hijab, the ongoing war in Gaza and anti-war protests by students in dozens of American universities, and the death of Ebrahim Raisi and his companions following the mysterious crash of their helicopter made May 2024 a difficult month for media personnel in Iran.
Two events in May played the most significant role in activating the judicial and security mechanisms of the Islamic Republic to suppress journalists, media, and social network users: the publication of a new narrative by BBC World on the death of Nika Shakarami and the death of Ebrahim Raisi and his companions in a mysterious helicopter crash.
In response to these two events, which sparked widespread social reactions in media and virtual networks, the Islamic Republic initiated one of the broadest campaigns to disrupt free information dissemination and suppress freedom of expression.
The scope of judicial and security actions against citizens who were outraged by the brutal treatment of Nika Shakarami by security forces or who celebrated, joked, or reported on the helicopter crash of Ebrahim Raisi quickly extended beyond journalists and media to include the arrest, summoning, and threatening phone calls to social network users, families of citizens killed in anti-government protests, and lawyers.
In this month, social network users bore the brunt of the suppression. In response to these two events, the security and judicial institutions of the Islamic Republic summoned, arrested, or threatened hundreds of citizens across Iran in phone calls, and dozens of Instagram accounts were seized.
In May, some patterns of media and journalist suppression previously employed by the Islamic Republic’s security and judicial institutions in similar events were repeated with minor changes. Concurrent with the repetition of suppression patterns related to social network users, DeFFI’s investigations showed that security and judicial institutions increasingly used threatening phone calls instead of summoning, indicting, and arresting journalists.
May 2024 began with at least seven journalists imprisoned in Iranian prisons. Vida Rabani and Shirin Saeidi in Evin Prison, Nasrin Hassani in Bojnourd Prison, Parisa Salehi in Karaj’s Kachooi Prison, and Kamyar Fakour, Rouhollah Nakhai, and Mehdi Afsharnik in Evin Prison were incarcerated at the beginning of this month.
In May, for the second consecutive month, the judicial and security crackdowns on journalists, media activists, and Iranian media recorded more cases than the average press cases in 2024.
According to documented cases by DeFFI, in May 2024 (April 30, 2024 – June 1, 2024), journalists, media activists, and media outlets—comprising 10 women, 27 men, and five media outlets—experienced at least 42 instances of judicial and security crackdowns by the Islamic Republic. The number of judicial and security actions against journalists, media activists, and media outlets was 48 in January, 49 in February, 20 in March, and 46 in April.
In the past month, the Islamic Republic arbitrarily arrested at least seven journalists and media activists, summoned at least seven journalists or media managers to judicial and security institutions or received threatening phone calls, filed judicial cases against 11 journalists following complaints from the prosecutor’s office or government institutions and officials, and the Press Court found one media manager guilty and acquitted two others of the charges.
In one of the most tragic events of May, Ali (Abbasali) Moslehi Vadqani, a journalist living in Kashan, was hospitalized due to a stroke caused by the psychological pressure of extrajudicial actions against him.
One of Ali Moslehi’s relatives informed DeFFI that Ali Moslehi was hospitalized at Kashan’s Kargarnejad Hospital due to a stroke caused by the psychological pressure of a heavy prison sentence against him, deprivation of a fair trial, and the seizure of his house by the judiciary.
In the court sessions held in May, the Islamic Republic’s judiciary issued extrajudicial sentences against journalists, recording the highest number of prison sentences in a month since the beginning of 2024.
In this month, six journalists and media activists—under Article 134 of the Islamic Penal Code and applying the latest sentence in each case—were sentenced to a total of 19 years and three months in prison and two years of social media activity prohibition.
In the heaviest sentences issued against journalists in May, Branch 1 of the Sanandaj Revolutionary Court sentenced Zhina Modarres Gorji, a journalist living in this city and women’s rights activist, to a total of 10 years of enforceable imprisonment and exile in Hamadan. Branch 15 of the Tehran Revolutionary Court sentenced Shirin Saeidi, an economic reporter and political prisoner in Evin Prison, to five years in prison.
The security and judicial institutions of the Islamic Republic violated the legal rights of journalists under investigation at least 41 times in one month. The number of judicial and security violations in press cases was 39 in January, 58 in February, 29 in March, and 45 in April.
Eleven cases of preventing journalists and media activists from accessing chosen lawyers, six cases of threatening arrest and disrupting professional activities, seven cases of arbitrary arrest, and ten cases of non-public press court sessions and issuing sentences against journalists without jury participation were the most frequent violations by security and judicial institutions in press cases that DeFFI could document.
In May 2024, the suppression of media and their managers continued similarly to journalists and media activists. On the 15th of this month, in response to increased security and judicial pressure on journalists and media in Hormozgan province, three media organizations issued a joint statement protesting the “negative performance” of Mehdi Dosti, the governor, and called for changes in approaches towards media and journalists in Hormozgan. Mehdi Dosti, while seriously confronting critical media and journalists in this province, filed complaints against the South Trade media, the head of ILNA news agency in Hormozgan, the Market news agency, and the manager of the Ashkan News website.
In the last days of May, following criticism from some media activists regarding the inefficiency of government officials in providing drinking water to citizens in Kalaleh, Golestan province, Ahmad Parsaei-Rad, the regional water manager of Kalaleh, filed complaints against at least three media outlets.
According to a report received by DeFFI, Ahmad Parsaei-Rad filed complaints against Majid Mohammadi, Mohammadreza Heidari, and Ali Melkan, managers of the “Kalaleh,” “Young Voice,” and “My Kalaleh City” media outlets, respectively, who covered news in this county and Golestan province, for criticizing the repeated urban water cuts in Kalaleh and the government’s inability to provide drinking water to citizens.
Throughout May, five media outlets and seven media managers experienced judicial and security crackdowns by the Islamic Republic. In this month, the news-analytical website Iran Watch, which was filtered and taken offline on April 30, 2024, resumed its activities after 22 days, and Behrooz Behzadi, the manager of Etemad newspaper, announced in a note titled “Do not threaten or limit us” that the police threatened them due to a report in this newspaper about the “impact of the morality police on some businesses in central Tehran.” Behrooz Behzadi wrote in this note that this was the second threat by the police to this media and its manager in the past year.
According to documented cases by DeFFI, in May—similar to previous months—”spreading lies with the aim of disturbing public opinion,” under Article 746 of the Islamic Penal Code, with 23 cases, was again the most frequent charge against journalists and media.