![]() They consider BBC Persian as a subversive arm of Britain Secret Intelligence Service, MI6, aimed at fomenting regime change in Iran. The UK has refused to grant visas to a number of family members to visit the journalists in the UK.īritain, often dubbed by Iranian hardliners “the old fox”, has a special place in Iranian official demonology. The Guardian understands that at least one BBC Persian employee has been prevented from leaving Iran after visiting her home country. A number of staff have also been victims of false allegations of sexual misconduct, duplicated Facebook accounts, fake blogs and online identity theft designed to discredit them. It emerged on Sunday that Sasan Aghaei, an Iranian journalist with the reformist Etemaad newspaper, had been arrested.Ībout 140 employees work for BBC Persian from outside Iran, but authorities have maintained a campaign of harassment against them by summoning their family members who live in the country. At least 10 journalists and 17 citizen-journalists are incarcerated. Iran is “one of the world’s five biggest prisons for journalists”, according to Reporters Without Borders. The latest crackdown is a sign that the authorities are renewing pressure on the corporation, and stepping up a wider crackdown on journalists after the re-election of Hassan Rouhani as president. “We call upon the Iranian authorities to reverse this order urgently and allow BBC staff and former staff to enjoy the same financial rights as their fellow citizens.” It is appalling that anyone should suffer legal or financial consequences because of their association with the BBC,” said Francesca Unsworth, director of the BBC World Service. ![]() “We deplore what appears to be a targeted attack on BBC Persian staff, former staff, and some contributors. Its Iranian staff, who have been victims of a campaign of intimidation and smears in recent years, are unable to return to Iran for fear of reprisal, and most – if not all – BBC Persian staff cannot visit their families back home. The broadcaster says it has an audience of 13 million in Iran, making it BBC News’ seventh-biggest market worldwide. They are watched by millions of Iranians via illegal satellite dishes on residential rooftops. Read the full press release here (BBC) and here (NUJ).BBC Persian is banned in Iran but its radio shows and TV channel are still popular with an audience hungry for news not reported by the state-run channels. Since 2017, the BBC World Service has filed a number of UN complaints over the treatment of BBC News Persian staff and their families, represented by Caoilfhionn Gallagher QC and Jennifer Robinson at Doughty Street Chambers and supported by the National Union of Journalists (NUJ) and the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ). The UN experts also raised concern with the surveillance of journalists and the harassment of their journalistic sources in Iran, the interrogation of family members of BBC journalists, and the pressure placed on BBC journalists ‘to leave their jobs’ - all of which may have a ‘chilling effect’ on journalism. It set out the pattern of harassment that BBC journalists have suffered over the past decade, including “the systematic attacks, including harassment, asset freezing, serious threats, and defamation campaigns implemented by the authorities against BBC News Persian journalists”. The communication was sent by four UN specialist experts, who work on arbitrary detention, freedom of speech, violence against women and Iran. The UN communication was sent to Iran on and has now been published along with Iran’s response. This includes online violence and gendered attacks faced by women journalists as well as increased financial pressure from an ongoing asset freeze, which operates as a blunt financial sanction against BBC News Persian journalists and their extended families. The UN communication comes after the BBC filed an urgent appeal to the UN in February 2022 against Iran’s ongoing harassment of BBC News Persian journalists. The United Nations have raised concerns with Iran over the ongoing harassment of BBC News Persian staff, in a formal communication requesting Iran’s response and explanation.
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