Violence and threats against journalists reporting on Iran from abroad must stop, warn UN experts

GENEVA (30 May 2024) – UN experts* today condemned violence, threats, intimidation against the Persian language news service Iran International, its journalists and staff and its owner Volant Media UK Limited.

Such acts are part of wider pattern of repression against Persian language media services, including BBC News Persian, they said.

“We are deeply alarmed that death threats and intimidation against Iran International staff escalated into the violent stabbing of journalist Pouria Zeraati outside his home in London on 29 March 2024,” the experts said. “Such attacks not only violate the human rights to life and personal security but are also aimed at suppressing freedom of expression and the media, including legitimate criticism of the Iranian Government.”

Since its founding in 2017, Iran International and its staff have been subject to threats, harassment and prolific abuse on social media by Iranian authorities and their proxies, aimed at silencing critical media reporting on Iran. These threats escalated after the “Woman, Life, Freedom” protests that spread across Iran in 2022, with Persian media abroad being falsely blamed for fueling unrest, the experts said.

There have been at least 15 credible Iranian plots to kill or kidnap people in the United Kingdom since 2022, according to the experts.

British counter-terrorism police warned two Iran International personnel, including Volant’s General Manager, Mahmoud Enayat, of imminent threats to their lives in November 2022, which led them to flee the United Kingdom. A plot to kill two television presenters, including Fardad Farahzad, was thwarted in November 2023.

Due to the risk to its staff, Iran International was forced to temporarily close its London studios in February 2023 for six months, on the advice of British police.

“We are concerned that these attacks and threats may have a chilling effect on journalists inside and outside Iran,” the experts said.

Transnational repression of journalists reporting on Iran has also occurred elsewhere. In September 2023, Iran International journalist Kian Amani was physically and verbally assaulted by a member of Iran’s delegation to the United Nations at a hotel in New York.

Iran also imposed travel and financial sanctions on Volant Media and Iran International in 2022 for supposedly supporting terrorism and froze the assets of the owners and their family members in Iran in 2019.

“We deplore the blatant misuse of counter-terrorism law against journalists, which violates freedoms of expression, association and peaceful assembly, the right to travel, privacy, family rights, the right to reputation and due process and judicial safeguards,” the experts said.

They said the threats against Iran International were part of a pattern of threats and attacks against Persian language media and dissidents outside Iran, including journalists working for BBC News Persian, Deutsche Welle, Voice of America, IranWire and Radio Farda.

“We urge Iran to refrain from violence, threats and intimidation against Iran International and its staff, online and offline, and other journalists and media workers reporting on Iran from abroad, and to investigate and prosecute those responsible for such acts,” the experts said.