On World Press Freedom Day, Iran Continues Persecution Of Journalists

(New York, N.Y.) – Around the world today, people and governments are standing in solidarity with journalists that have been restrained or prohibited from reporting, remembering those that have died in pursuit of a story, and recommitting themselves to upholding freedom of the press as part of UNESCO’S World Press Freedom Day. However, journalists hoping to work freely in the Islamic Republic of Iran are threatened with criminal investigations, unlawful surveillance, defamation, and harassment.

According to the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), Iran is the seventh most censored country in the world, with five journalists killed and fifteen imprisoned to date in 2021. Last year, the UN warned that the Iranian regime had targeted BBC Persian Service journalists with death threats and subjected female journalists to threats of sexual violence. In April, the U.S. Department of State released its annual report on Human Rights Practices in Iran from January to December 2020, reporting numerous occurrences where “the government and its agents harassed, detained, abused, and prosecuted publishers, editors, and journalists, including those involved in internet-based media, for their reporting. The government also harassed many journalists’ families.” In recent months, Iranian authorities have intensified their crackdown on the media, with an increasing number of journalists arrested during the upcoming election period and the COVID-19 outbreak.

United Against Nuclear Iran (UANI)’s resource, Iran’s War on Journalism and Journalists, highlights the persecution of journalists and suppression of free speech in Iran. The regime has prohibited domestic and foreign journalists from covering anti-government protests; required that journalists only use official government data and sources about the spread of COVID-19 in Iran and refrain from investigative reporting or seeking information from other sources; and forced news outlets to parrot Tehran’s initial attempt to cover up its downing of a Ukrainian jetliner in January 2020 by claiming the plane crashed due to mechanical failure.

Journalists working for both Iranian and foreign media in Iranian jails are subjected to torture and other human-rights violations, including extended solitary confinement and denial of family visits and access to health care and legal counsel. The CPJ reported in 2013 that 65 percent of imprisoned journalists were housed in Evin Prison, which is notorious for subjecting inmates to torture, beatings, harsh interrogations, and mock executions. American journalists Roxana Saberi and Jason Rezaian were both held in Evin Prison and subjected to prolonged solitary confinement.

To read UANI’s resource: Iran’s War on Journalism and Journalists, please click here.
 

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