Iran: Journalism

(asked on 19th April 2021) - View Source

Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what assessment his Department has made of the harassment and intimidation of (a) BBC Persian staff and (b) other independent journalists and their families in Iran; and what representations he has made to his Iranian counterpart on that harassment.


Answered by
James Cleverly Portrait
James Cleverly
Home Secretary
This question was answered on 22nd April 2021

We condemn the persecution of current and former BBC Persian employees and their family members, and the many individuals who have had their assets frozen or are banned from leaving Iran. These actions by the Iranian authorities contravene multiple international human rights obligations, including restrictions on media freedom.

We continue to regularly raise this harassment directly with the Iranian government, as well as in multilateral fora, including the Human Rights Council. In October 2020, at the UN Third Committee, we urged Iran to cease their harassment of journalists and media organisations; and in March 2021, at the Human Rights Council, we made clear to Iran that their repeated violations of human rights are unacceptable. We will continue to call out these violations for as long as Iran commits them.

The British Government is committed to the promotion of media freedom. Journalists must be able to investigate and report independently.

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