WASHINGTON, D.C. — The Committee to Protect Journalists on Tuesday asked British authorities to strengthen their protection of threatened staff members of Iran International, a Persian-language news television channel based in London, and demanded that they hold Iranian authorities accountable for transnational crimes.
“Time and again Iranian authorities have acted with impunity in attempting to silence journalists around the world,” said Sherif Mansour, CPJ’s Middle East and North Africa program coordinator. “U.K. authorities must ensure the safety of Iran International’s staff and send a message that threats to journalists on its soil will not be tolerated. Until foreign governments hold Iran accountable, this trend will only worsen, and journalists will continue to face unacceptable threats to their safety.”
Earlier this week, Iran International announced in a statement that two of its journalists received credible threats to their lives by members of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) in direct relation to their work as journalists.
Iran has arrested at least 61 journalists since the start of protests in mid-September—Iran International covered the protests—following the death of a 22-year-old woman, Mahsa Amini, whom morality police arrested for allegedly violating the country’s conservative dress law. CPJ has documented the release on bail of 13 of those journalists. CPJ has called for the release of all detained journalists.
In recent years, the Iranian government has increasingly targeted journalists on foreign soil. They have harassed, threatened, abducted, carried out extrajudicial measures against journalists, and thus far have not been held accountable.
