{"id":3310,"date":"2025-06-25T16:44:19","date_gmt":"2025-06-25T16:44:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.deffi.org\/en\/?p=3310"},"modified":"2025-06-25T16:44:21","modified_gmt":"2025-06-25T16:44:21","slug":"continuation-of-organized-harassment-against-families-of-iranian-media-journalists","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.deffi.org\/en\/continuation-of-organized-harassment-against-families-of-iranian-media-journalists\/","title":{"rendered":"Continuation of Organized Harassment Against Families of Iranian Media Journalists"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

In recent days, amid the military conflict between Iran and Israel, the families of several journalists and employees of Voice of America\u2019s (VOA) Persian service have been subjected to \u201cintimidation and detention\u201d by Iran\u2019s security and judicial authorities.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

On June 24, 2025, VOA\u2019s Persian service<\/a> reported on the security pressures exerted by the Islamic Republic on the families of its staff. VOA stated: \u201cIn recent days, the families of several journalists and colleagues of VOA\u2019s Persian service in Iran have faced intimidation and detention. These families have been threatened that if their relatives\u2019 media activities with VOA do not cease, they will face \u2018consequences\u2019 in Iran.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is not the first instance of Iranian journalists abroad and their families being harassed by agents of the Islamic Republic. In numerous incidents, journalists from various Persian-language media outlets have faced fabricated legal cases, threats, assassination plots, and even knife attacks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On the ninth day of the Iran-Israel conflict, Iran International television<\/a> announced: \u201cThe Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) in Tehran has detained the family of one of Iran International\u2019s presenters to pressure them into ceasing cooperation with the network. The presenter\u2019s father, mother, and younger brother are currently being held in an undisclosed location.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Previously, the BBC<\/a> issued a statement expressing deep concern over the harassment of BBC Persian journalists and their families, stating: \u201cIn recent months, the harassment of BBC Persian journalists in the UK and their families in Iran has escalated alarmingly. This campaign of intimidation, orchestrated by Iranian authorities, has become increasingly widespread and severe.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Defending Free Flow of Information (DeFFI) strongly condemns the ongoing threats against Iranian journalists abroad and their families, describing them as a blatant attack on freedom of expression and a gross violation of citizens\u2019 rights to access independent information. Such actions, aimed at intimidating journalists and disrupting the free flow of information, are unacceptable and violate the fundamental rights of Iranian citizens. DeFFI calls for urgent, resolute, and effective measures by governments and international organizations to protect Iranian journalists and their families from the Islamic Republic\u2019s transnational threats and organized harassment.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In recent days, amid the military conflict between Iran and Israel, the families of several journalists and employees of Voice of America\u2019s (VOA) Persian service have been subjected to \u201cintimidation and detention\u201d by Iran\u2019s security and judicial authorities. On June 24, 2025, VOA\u2019s Persian service reported on the security pressures exerted by the Islamic Republic […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":3311,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11,89,26],"tags":[426],"class_list":{"0":"post-3310","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-news","8":"category-news-highlights","9":"category-repression-of-media","10":"tag-voa-persian"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.deffi.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3310","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.deffi.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.deffi.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.deffi.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.deffi.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3310"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.deffi.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3310\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3312,"href":"https:\/\/www.deffi.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3310\/revisions\/3312"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.deffi.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3311"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.deffi.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3310"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.deffi.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3310"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.deffi.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3310"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}