This analytical-statistical report is the first quarterly report of the Defending Free Flow of Information (DeFFI) organization for 2024. It includes data on violations of the rights of media, journalists, and citizen journalists in Iran from January 1, 2024, to March 31, 2024 (Dey 11, 1402 – Farvardin 12, 1403).
The findings of this report are based on DeFFI’s conversations with informed sources, reports published in partner media, statements by officials, and state media, as well as 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 number of cases 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 is likely higher than the statistics and events recorded in this report.
In this report, some documented cases in the first quarter of 2024 are reflected only as statistics to protect the security of journalists and prevent increased security pressure on them. The details of these cases will not be publicly released and will only be provided to some international organizations in the form of human rights reports. Media or human rights organizations that need the details of these cases for their research and reports can contact DeFFI managers via email at info@deffi.org.
The quarterly report for the first quarter of 2024 was prepared based on 107 new press cases documented by the Defending Free Flow of Information organization and a total of 124 press cases updated based on data collected from first-hand sources and reports published in partner media and human rights organizations.
According to the findings of this report, the suppression of media and journalists by the Islamic Republic in January, February, and March continued in an organized, targeted, and steady manner. In the first quarter of 2024, the Islamic Republic judicially and security prosecuted at least 91 journalists, media activists, and media outlets.
During the three months, the Islamic Republic arbitrarily arrested at least 12 journalists and media activists, three journalists were arrested to serve their sentences and transferred to prison, nine journalists were summoned to judicial and security institutions, the home of one journalist was searched by security forces, the property of another journalist was confiscated, and a news agency dismissed its photojournalist for criticizing government officials.
From the beginning of 2024 to the end of the third month of this year, judicial cases were filed against 21 journalists and media activists. Political and press courts found 20 journalists guilty in separate cases, and 24 journalists and editors-in-chief, including seven women and 17 men, in 26 separate cases, were collectively sentenced to 14 years and seven months in prison, fined 99 million tomans, two years of exile, four years of ban from journalism, four years of prohibition from social media activities, and two years of travel ban, under Article 134 of the Islamic Penal Code, considering the latest sentence issued in each case.
Based on documented cases by DeFFI, the judicial and security institutions of the Islamic Republic violated the legal rights of journalists under prosecution in at least 95 instances over three months. The number of violations by judicial and security institutions in press cases was 33 in January, 42 in February, and 20 in March.
Deprivation of 13 imprisoned or detained journalists from meeting with their families, nine cases of denying detained journalists legal counsel, three cases of psychological torture of detained journalists, six cases of detaining journalists in inhumane conditions, two cases of arrest without a judicial warrant, nine cases of seizing personal belongings of journalists without a legal warrant, two cases of prolonged detention of journalists contrary to Iran’s laws, and at least two cases of extralegal solitary confinement of journalists were part of the documented violations of journalists’ rights in the first quarter of 2024.
In the first quarter of 2024, the suppression of media in Iran, similar to journalists in this country, continued without interruption and with little fluctuation. In 25 documented cases during this period, the Islamic Republic shut down two media outlets, press courts found at least 10 newspapers and news agencies guilty in separate cases, five media outlets were sued by officials or government institutions, one newspaper was closed after 24 years of activity, and one publication ceased operations due to security pressures.
During this period, 14 editors-in-chief were judicially prosecuted in 18 separate cases. Press courts issued guilty verdicts against eight editors-in-chief, four complaints were filed against media editors-in-chief in the judiciary, and in press courts, a total of one year of imprisonment and 60 million tomans in fines were issued against media outlets and their editors-in-chief.
According to documented cases by DeFFI, from the beginning of 2024 to the end of the third month of this year, the charge of spreading falsehoods with the intent to disturb public opinion, under Articles 698 and 746 of the Islamic Penal Code, with 51 instances, was the most frequently attributed accusation to journalists and media outlets.
This statistic shows that in 64% of the cases filed against media outlets and journalists, spreading falsehoods was at least one of the repeated accusations in the cases. The repetition of the falsehood accusation in press cases proves that the Islamic Republic is deliberately trying to discredit journalists and non-governmental media; an action that takes place in an extralegal context and without any criminal evidence.
Statistical analysis and event recording by the Defending Free Flow of Information organization show that a significant part of the judicial, security, and political institutions of the Islamic Republic’s response to social events follows pre-designed patterns. The repetition of these suppression patterns in similar events, along with changing some of these patterns—especially in response to social events and media and human rights activities by the opposition—indicates that the mechanism for suppressing independent information dissemination in Iran is organized, and these protocols are continuously updated.